Steel Strip

It’s clear that Arcelor consider the Mittal bid to be most unwelcome, with their CEO stating that the company will fight long and hard to resist the takeover. The bid came as a shock to most of us, if only for its audacity but in this global world in which we all live (including [...]

Lakshmi Mittal is meeting French ministers amid concerns about his firm’s 18.6bn euro (£12.7bn) bid approach for rival steelmaker Arcelor.
Luxembourg-based Arcelor rejected Mittal Steel’s bid over the weekend, labelling it a “bit ridiculous” and saying it was braced for a tough fight. Mittal, owned by British-based tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, has raised concerns in France, Belgium [...]

LONDON (Reuters) - Mittal Steel said on Friday it had launched an 18.6 billion euro (12.8 billion pounds) offer for French rival Arcelor .
Mittal Steel said the offer was worth 28.21 euros a share, a 27 percent premium to Arcelor’s closing price on January 26.
Under the offer, Arcelor shareholders will get 4 Mittal Steel shares [...]

I read an interesting article today by George Kerevan in the Scotsman.
For the benefit of overseas readers, rocketing energy prices and the future of the UK’s energy strategy is a hot political issue here.
Whilst the UK has been in recent history self sufficient in gas and even a net exporter of oil, largely due to [...]

According to the latest MEPS forecast prices for steel strip in Europe during 2006 are likely to be lower than in 2005. Certainly the producers that have tried to impose price increases recently have met with very little success as the market resistance is very strong. Although the overstock situation that played a significant part [...]

Whilst Thyssen Krupp have ceded in the bidding war for Dofasco to Arcelor, analysts within the steel industry believe that TK still has ambitions within the North American Steel market.
With TK out of the Dofasco race, they may look to other possible targets such as AK Steel Holding Corp., the biggest U.S. maker of automotive [...]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Arcelor came out victorious in a bidding war for Dofasco on Tuesday when the Canadian steel maker accepted its offer of C$71 per share after German rival ThyssenKrupp withdrew its bid.
In a joint statement, Dofasco said its board had accepted Arcelor’s offer in a deal valuing it at C$5.6 billion ($4.9 billion).
Shares [...]

China is now a net exporter of steel
BEIJING (AFX) - Output of steel and steel products in China reached a new record last year on overcapacity, while imports dropped dramatically, Morgan Stanley said. ‘With rapid capacity expansion in flat products by Chinese mills, we have seen two major trends in 2005 — accelerating steel production [...]

TORONTO — An Ontario court delayed by one day yesterday a decision on whether to approve Stelco Inc.’s restructuring plan, after lawyers for the steel maker’s shareholders said there may be a better option.
Under the current plan, which was overwhelmingly approved by creditors more than a month ago, Stelco’s existing shareholders would get nothing because [...]

The major steel manufacturers either due to their importance or as a result of their publicity department have little trouble in broadcasting news and information through the media.
The distribution of steel products to the end user however is mainly undertaken by steel service centres or independent processors and distributors. It is these companies that [...]