Steel Strip

Cold rolled steel strip prices are increasing in Europe and particularly in the United Kingdom. The upward pressure on prices originates from increases in hot rolled steel strip as the steelmakers attempt to recoup the higher costs of iron ore and energy.
The cold rolling industry is responding to the rise in its raw material costs [...]

Luxembourg’s trade minister pledged Wednesday that his government would not interfere with a bid by Mittal Steel for European steelmaker Arcelor, insisting the company’s shareholders should have the final say.
Jeannot Krecke, Luxembourg’s Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, was in India to boost trade ties, but his talks with Indian officials also focused on Mittal [...]

More Weirton Steel workers could lose their jobs when a Pennsylvania plant closes later this spring, a union official said Monday.
The Wheatland Tube Co. sent layoff notices to 125 hourly employees and 15 salaried employees at the company’s Sharon, Pa., plant on Friday. The plant is just across the state line from Youngstown, Ohio.
“Wheatland was [...]

Following price increases on hot rolled strip announced by all the EU producers earlier this month, the UK cold rollers have announced increases of up to £40.00 for deliveries from the 1st of April.
Whilst hot rolled has increased over the past two years, up until now cold rolled prices have fallen behind in real terms. [...]

We have had a request from a Bushy Park Ironworks in Dublin for help sourcing a mild steel profile. Can anyone out there help? A drawing of the profile can be found here
Bushy Park were winners of the 2004 RDS National Craft’s Competition for Ironwork and Metalwork and Overall Winners of the California Gold [...]

Shares in the steelmaker Corus soared 11% to their highest level in six years yesterday on speculation that it has been holding merger talks with Evraz, the Russian rival linked recently with Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club.
The Corus move, which could herald job losses in Britain, is just the latest in a [...]

Meps are reorting EU Steel price increases inline with articles previously posted here.
It is arguable whether this is as a result of increases in demand or the producers restricting supply. Meps reports that production within the EU is down by as much as 6.6% year on year. Whilst it is entirely understandable that the [...]

Reports are appearing that Corus the Anglo Dutch Steelmaker are in negotiations with Evraz who are Russia’s largest Steelmaker. Whilst no official comment has been forthcoming, the stories are widely reported. If the deal were to go ahead it would combine the World’s 8th and 12th largest Steelmakers with a production of some 32M tons.
In [...]

Luxembourg’s Chamber of Commerce has joined Europe’s lurch towards protectionism, tabling last-minute changes to the country’s takeover law in an alleged move to sabotage Mittal Steel’s €19.6bn bid for Arcelor.
The proposals would require the option of full cash payment for hostile takeovers unless a quarter of the bidder’s shares are liquid, with equal voting rights.
As [...]

Almost 400 workers in Darlaston and Willenhall have been warned they could lose their jobs after receivers were called in by engineering giant Caparo.
A pensions crisis at the Armstrong group, the nuts and screws arm of Caparo, led to administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers being called in on Monday night.
The news was broken yesterday morning to the [...]