Hasco expands flat steel range with P5600 grade

Customers have a choice of more than 3,000 available sizes.
All dimensions are grouped together under one order number, enabling the required ready-to-use sizes to be found easily and quickly.

Hasco's range of flat steel products has also been extended by many new materials.
Two examples are the highly-polishable case-hardening steel 1.2162 and the through-hardening cold-work steel 1.2363, which is additionally noted for its high-wear resistance.

The pre-hardened and tempered chromium stainless steel 1.2099 is also available as precision flat steel.

This material has good machining properties, dimensional stability and corrosion resistance.

All the dimensions and tolerances are oriented to practical applications and conform to DIN 59350.

Wugang to invest 180 millionn Au dollars for 50 pct shares of Australian iron ore mine

Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp., parent of Wugang, will invest 180 million Australian dollars (or 127 million US dollars) to jointly exploit iron ore resources in south-central Australia with the local company Centrex Metals Ltd. (CXM).

The two sides have recently signed a framework agreement, under which the two will set up a joint venture and each holds 50 percent shares. The joint venture will exploit 11 iron ore areas in Eyre Peninsula, with an estimated deposit of 2 billion tons.

Besides, CXM will sell 15 percent shares to Wugang at a price of 0.25 Australian dollars per share. As a result, Wugang will become the second largest shareholder of CXM and owns a seat on the latter's board.

Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly build a deepwater port 60 kilometers away from the mine area, for exporting products.

According to Wugang's general manager Deng Qilin, Wugang will form an annual steel production capacity of 50 million tons in the next few years, but the company only yields 4.5 million tons of iron ores per year, far from its annual demand of 80 million tons.

Deng also said, Wugang will accelerate its pace in building iron ore bases at abroad in the next few years.

Australian CXM, a local listing iron ore producer, is mainly engaged in production of hematite and magnetite, with a licensed exploration area of over 2000 square kilometers.

Essar Steel to reach 3.6 million tonne in FY 2009

ET reported that domestic manufacturer Essar Steel will produce the targeted 3.6 million tonne of the metal by the end of this fiscal as it has no plans to trim output and sees demand for the commodity picking up in the near future.

Mr J Mehra CEO of Essar Steel Holdings said that "We will reach the targeted steel output of 3.6 million tonne by the end of this fiscal. We will not be cutting production. H1 of the fiscal was good and we see the demand picking up in the second half."

Mr Mehra said that Essar Group firm sees demand for the commodity coming from the Asian market even as it maintained that global steel off take will remain flat.

He said that "Globally, steel demand will be flat, but Asian demand is poised to grow. There will be no cut in steel production. Our prices will be in line with the market."”

Essar Steel, which runs a 4.6 million tonne per annum capacity steel plant at Hazira in Gujarat had recorded an output of over 3 million tonne by the end of last fiscal.

STEEL PRICE DOWNTURN EXTENDING INTO ALL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Turkish long product producers are now seeking a higher price for reinforcing bar and merchant bar to reflect rising production costs. Smaller re-rollers have opted to stop producing altogether and have brought forward maintenance work. On the flat products side, heavy discounting of unsold material has failed to invigorate buyer interest. Some end-users have started purchasing material on a cash-basis but volumes are low and fall short of what is required to deplete stockpiles.

The outlook for the long and flat products markets in the Russian Federation and the Ukraine remains ominous. Demand in these CIS states has been adversely affected by the deteriorating trading conditions. Order intake from the manufacturing and construction industries remain soft. Structurals' production has been reduced again owing to the downturn in construction activity, and producers are now rationalising their product mix to correspond with the new market conditions.

Construction activity continues to support the South African steel industry. The outlook for the flat products segment is less positive. Bookings have temporally risen this month owing to ArcelorMittal’s new offers which are on average 10 percent lower than those in October. Softening downstream consumption remains a concern. Orders from the automotive and household appliance sectors continue to be depressed.

The UAE has not entirely escaped unscathed by the downturn in the global economy. The real estate building activity has been checked by the credit crunch. There are genuine fears of the US style property crash in the region. Pressure is also mounting on distributors to liquidate their holdings of quayside material. Sellers have yet to disclose their response to the Dubai Port Authority's decision to raise its storage fees. Some market participants assert that this could hasten further price corrections.

Local shipments to the Indian market have shown signs of wilting in the back drop of a global recession. Poor order books have left producers with stockpiles of unsold material. The mills have announced various measures to counter the slowdown in demand. So far none of them have revised their output. Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has reduced steel prices in the range of Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 a tonne across all product categories, and is offering concessions. Other private sector steel companies lowered prices of their products in phases during October but SAIL held their values steady.

The Mexican steel market is still depressed. Domestic orders remain soft and are not expected to improve in the interim. The steel consuming industries have reduced their steel requirements and are looking at ways to cut their costs. Traditionally, these manufacturers would have benefited from a weak Mexican peso but US consumer spending is down to levels not seen since the 1990s.

U.S. Steel to close three plants, consolidate

U. S. Steel is consolidating its operations and idling three plants in the Midwest, but Gary Works remains unaffected -- for now.

Fewer orders have forced the steelmaker to get its operations in line with softened customer demand. About 3,500 steelworkers will be laid off as U.S. Steel idles Keetac, an iron ore mining and pelletizing facility in Keewatin, Minn.; Great Lakes Works near Detroit, Mich.; and Granite City Works near St. Louis, Mo.

U.S. Steel plans to temporarily concentrate production at Gary Works; Mon Valley Works near Pittsburgh, Pa.; Fairfield Works near Birmingham, Ala.; and Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario.

U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong said there will be no change in the workforce at Gary Works.

"The market has affected our order book. We continue to monitor the market. What we've had to do (is) adjust production throughout to match customer demand," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said the company would need to see an uptick in orders before restoring its workforce to previous levels.

U.S. Steel laid off 100 workers in Northwest Indiana in mid-November. At least 800 contract workers were laid off in October.

ArcelorMittal plans on laying off 490 employees at the Burns Harbor mill in January.

The steel industry has gone from record-high steel prices in early 2008 to a sharp decline in orders as the economy slowed in North America and Europe. Fewer automotive purchases mean less steel is ordered.

Jim Robinson, district director of United Steelworkers, said the outlook across the industry isn't good.

"Obviously, if you look only at Gary Works, it's probably good news for them," Robinson said. "The numbers are just starting to get incredible in terms of economic activity. This is centralizing job security in the very short term; who knows for the long term.

"The problem is that there are no orders. Something needs to happen to us to get us moving again."

Robinson said a stimulus package that would update infrastructure across the country could jump-start the industry and all of the other areas linked to steelmaking -- from equipment manufacturers to construction workers.

"I think that a big stimulus package in infrastructure projects targeted at things that are already being done or can get up and running quickly would be the way to go," Robinson said.

"You need steel to build things."

Steel futures could bring price stability (Reuters)

Vadim Makhov, a board member at Russia's biggest steelmaker Severstal , said the steel futures market was a "new reality", offering certain uses to steel producers as well as consumers and which could bring stability in pricing.

"Steel futures could be extremely helpful to evaluate investments ... It (the futures market) is going to take off. It is a new reality and we have to recognize it," he said at a Metal Bulletin steel conference in Paris. "It is the industry's responsibility to use it productively."

Several major exchanges around the world, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the London Metal Exchange (LME), have launched steel futures this year.

However, very few major steelmakers have shown an interest so far, with the world's biggest, ArcelorMittal repeatedly expressed its opposition to it.

Europe's No.2 steelmaker, Corus, owned by India's Tata Steel ( earlier this year that there could be some use for steel futures but did not elaborate.

Makhov said that to be able to see the forward curve in the steel price could provide a greater amount of visibility to several participants in the steel supply chain.

"If steel service centres would see the future curve, I believe very important aspect of destocking would disappear," he said.

"I believe a steel futures curve could also help us reduce cyclicality and that will greatly improve the valuations and the multiples of companies, which would give the industry more reliability."

He also said steel futures would expand to other products such as hot and cold-rolled and galvanised products.