Supply Chain

• Chesapeake sells energy, pipeline assets for $6.9 billion Sep 12, 2012

  Chesapeake Energy Corp. has sold most of its holdings in the Permian Basin, as well as its pipeline assets and positions on shales across the United States, for about $6.9 billion, it said Wednesday.

• Trade deal must protect auto sector: USW Sep 12, 2012

  What could become one of the largest free-trade agreements to date likely would hurt the U.S. auto sector’s supply chain unless clearly defined sourcing rules are established, counsel for the United Steelworkers union said Wednesday.

• Economist blames Chinese trade policies for US financial woes Sep 12, 2012

  The U.S. economy will not get back on its feet until underlying structural problems are addressed, primarily trade relations with China, according to one economist.

• US said close to energy independence: Analyst Sep 12, 2012

  The United States might be within reach of energy independence as record oil prices could be encouraging overproduction, according to one energy analyst.

• Benada to sell 9-inch press to Tubelite Sep 11, 2012

  Benada Aluminum Products LLC has filed a motion to sell extrusion equipment to aluminum fabricator and distributor Tubelite Inc.

• Automotive market set to change: IHS Sep 11, 2012

  The automotive market will reach pre-recession highs over the next four years, but the market landscape will be different when it does, according to IHS Global Insight Inc. senior consultant Shane Norton.

• Novelis, Jaguar Land Rover sign aluminum sheet pact Sep 11, 2012

  Novelis Inc. has signed a multiyear deal to become Jaguar Land Rover Plc’s sole supplier of aluminum sheet, the company announced Tuesday.

• Car imports said hurting Mexico Sep 11, 2012

  Mexico’s association of automotive distributors, Amda, has asked the country’s president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, to help stop the import of used vehicles from the United States.

• Russel union workers begin strike in Quebec Sep 11, 2012

  Union workers have initiated a strike at Russel Metals Inc.’s Acier Leroux long products facility in Boucherville, Quebec, the company said.

• Leeco breaks ground on new Texas warehouse Sep 11, 2012

  Leeco Steel LLC has broken ground on its second warehouse in the Fort Worth, Texas, area as it looks to expand its reach to customers in the South.

• ‘Fiscal cliff’ concerns entire Nafta region: manufacturers Sep 11, 2012

  American lawmakers’ failure to create policies ensuring economic growth will prove challenging not just to U.S. companies, but to all of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) region, according to a group of manufacturing experts.

• Good times may be a long way off: consultant Sep 11, 2012

  The global economy of tomorrow might look better than today’s, but that tomorrow could be a long way off, according to one consultant.

• Stemcor taps Verden as new chief Sep 11, 2012

  Julian Verden has been named chief executive officer of steel trader Stemcor Holdings Ltd. effective Jan. 1.

• Mexico’s automotive output, exports increase in August Sep 10, 2012

  Mexico’s auto manufacturing sector produced 248,835 units in August, up 12.3 percent from the same month in 2011, according to automotive group Asociación Mexicana de la Industria Automotriz AC (Amia).

• Icahn blasts Navistar; board fires back Sep 10, 2012

  Navistar International Corp. on Monday shot back at investor Carl Icahn after he penned a letter threatening a proxy battle and accused the truck and engine manufacturer’s board of being "asleep at the switch."

• Mid-West Materials chairman Joseph Koppelman dies Sep 10, 2012

  Steel industry veteran Joseph Koppelman, chairman of service center Mid-West Materials Inc., died Sunday. He was 94.

• Commerce schedules meeting on government responses Sep 10, 2012

  The Manufacturing Council of the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) will hold a meeting Sept. 28 to hear updates from the Commerce Department and the secretaries of Energy, Labor and the Treasury on government responses to past council recommendations.

• Commerce sets duty on metal-top ironing tables Sep 10, 2012

  In the final results of an anti-dumping duty administrative review of imports of floor-standing metal-top ironing tables and parts from China, the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has assessed Foshan Shunde Yongjian Housewares & Hardwares Co. Ltd. a China-wide rate of 157.68 percent.

• Bridger, Advantage to build new Texas crude oil pipeline Sep 07, 2012

  Bridger Logistics LLC plans to work with Advantage Pipeline LLC to construct a crude oil pipeline that is expected to boost shipping capacity to the Gulf Coast.

• CarTech alloy nears use in aerospace Sep 07, 2012

  Carpenter Technology Corp.’s proprietary Custom 465 stainless steel is moving closer to use in aircraft landing gear.

• Buyers expect steel sheet prices to fall Sep 07, 2012

  U.S. steel sheet prices fell slightly to $33.25 per hundredweight ($665 per ton) f.o.b. Midwest mill during the first week of September as service center buyers, anticipating further market drops, largely held off buying.

• USTR tells Commerce to comply with WTO ruling Sep 07, 2012

  The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office has asked the Commerce Department to comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body ruling that the United States should not have used zeroing in calculating margins in an anti-dumping duty order on diamond sawblades from China.

• Pipeline services company ShawCor considering sale Sep 07, 2012

  ShawCor Ltd. is mulling a possible sale of the company as part of a strategic review.

• Corvi joins ATI’s board of directors Sep 07, 2012

  Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) has appointed Carolyn Corvi to its board of directors.