Steel Strip

Market sentiment has visibly changed in the flat products sector. We can detect an air of mild optimism, albeit tempered with extreme caution. The downward pressure on steel prices appears to be abating, helped by the recent severe production cuts, which have limited availability. Nevertheless, underlying demand remains weak. Customers are still not placing orders [...]

 
The MP for Redcar is to fly to Italy to hold talks about the future of under-threat steelworks Corus. Earlier this month a consortium of firms, led by Italian steel specialists Marcegaglia, pulled out of a 10-year deal, threatening nearly 2,000 jobs. But Vera Baird said she was hopeful of saving the plant, after being [...]

ALL PRODUCTS CARBON STEEL PRICE FORECAST – APRIL 2009
WORLD (GLOBAL) - ALL PRODUCTS COMPOSITE CARBON STEEL PRICE FORECAST The MEPS – Global World All Products Composite transaction price was, as anticipated, slightly lower in April. Global demand is weak for both long and flat products. Despite continued production curbs in all [...]

Corus is meeting with it’s bankers today to discuss the effects of the recession on key debt to earnings ratios.
Whilst Corus have made cutbacks in production and costs, the depth of the recession continues to take a heavy financial toll on the steelmaker.
We understand that whilst Corus is an indirect subsidiary of Tata, it does [...]

Angry steel workers attacked the Luxembourg headquarters of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting yesterday, setting off smoke bombs and breaking through the front door in protest at temporary layoffs.
Buses had brought 1,000 workers from plants in northern France and Charleroi and Liège in southern Belgium. Some hurled cobblestones and [...]

STEEL production in the UK has dropped by almost 43 per cent in a 12-month period.
But the figures for the European Union as a whole show an even bigger fall.
In March this year, UK steel output totalled 749,000 tonnes, down from 1.3-million tonnes in March last year.
But the total was up on the 650,000 tonnes [...]

Severstal International Inc. said Thursday its steel mills in West Virginia and Ohio will be idled indefinitely because of the drop in orders, resulting in the layoffs or future layoffs of 3,100 steelworkers.
Severstal will idle its cold rolling and coating operations at its Severstal Wheeling Inc. plants in the next few weeks, after earlier stopping [...]

 
From BBC News
Steelmaker Corus is to mothball its Teesside plant threatening the jobs of nearly 2,000 workers.
Workers at the Teesside Cast Products plant in Redcar were told the news ahead of a 90-day consultation.
Owner Corus said the development had become "unavoidable" because of the end of a contract with four international steel slab buyers. [...]

The Canadian government warned United States Steel Corp. on Wednesday that it must live up to its production commitments at the former Stelco Inc. plants in Ontario which it has temporarily shut down.
Industry Minister Tony Clement said he sent a letter indicating that the shutdown at plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, may violate commitments [...]

Malaysian firm Weststar is said to be on the verge of taking over LDV after the troubled van maker was offered a £5m four-week loan from the government.
Negotiations between the company, LDV and UK government officials continued into the night to finalise the deal and avoid administration.
The company had been set to go into [...]