Steel Strip

In view of the recent spate of price increase announcements, its interesting to see MEPS latest take on the situation.

EU steel prices showed a remarkably strong recovery over the first half of this year. Despite the Summer slowdown, the latest figures are now in some cases above the peak values reached in the previous cycle.
This [...]

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel has urged union workers to keep an open mind over a proposed merger with Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional. CSN has proposed to merge its North American assets with Wheeling-Pittsburgh in exchange for ownership of just under half of the new company. The Brazilian company would also invest $225 [...]

Spam comments and trackbacks are a “pain in the arse” for anyone who writes a blog or who maintains a publicly accessible message board. The “pond life” types that leave their shite all over the web, do so to create spurious links to their pathetic sites from which they hope to gain advertising revenue. Not [...]

Children’s TV channel Boomerang are to edit scenes from Tom and Jerry cartoons where characters are shown smoking. The move follows an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom into a viewer’s complaint that the vintage animations were not appropriate for young viewers.
Source BBC NEWS
As I understand this report, they had a complaint from 1 viewer! [...]

The price of structural steel is to increase in the UK owing to high demand by a recovering construction industry, steelmaker Corus has said.
The Anglo-Dutch firm said basis prices on all its structural sections will rise by £30 a tonne from October 1.
It will also increase the price of reversing mill plate - used in [...]

Salzgitter , Germany’s second-biggest steelmaker, has said it expects to raise average prices for flat steel products by up to 40 euros per tonne in the fourth quarter, as raw materials prices keep rising. This follows on from ThyssenKrupp ,who said last week it plans to raise prices for hot- and cold-rolled strip and [...]

AUTOMOTIVE: Accelerate invites companies in the automotive supply chain to apply for funding

Accelerate, the West Midlands’ automotive supply chain initiative, has secured £13 million in cash from the European Regional Development Fund for the region’s auto suppliers. The money injection will be directed to developing world class manufacturing performance through the supply chain and securing [...]

It’s not so often I post a human interest story, but I spotted this one in the Scunththorpe Telegraph.
As the fourth generation in a steelmaking family, Donna Jackson was expected to take up a career in the industry - but she was not expected to make history.
For the one-time student at Foxhills School Technology [...]

Trade union IG Metall will be demanding a 7 pct wage increase for about 85,000 workers in the steel and iron industries in three regions in western Germany, a union spokesman said.
Wage bargaining talks are scheduled to start on Aug 23 and the workers affected are in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Lower Saxony.
Two [...]

Corus Group PLC, the Ango-Dutch steel maker, has announced a 10 pct price rise for its long products effective from Oct 1, 2006.
The group said the price hike was due to strong market demand. Derek Randall, commercial director of Corus’ long products division, said demand across the group’s main markets such as construction, commercial [...]