Change is inevitable, but perhaps nowhere is this more keenly evident than in the ever-evolving and often-volatile scrap industry.
Domestic scrapyards, facing increasingly strict requirements by U.S. steel mills, are instead opting to feed the insatiable appetite of offshore steelmakers, a move that is changing the recipe of the scrap mix.
Demolition contractors aren’t sitting on a mountain of unsold metal and while signs of a pickup in business are beginning to emerge, on a flat hill an uptick doesn’t necessarily amount to much.
U.S. manufacturing—or at least a portion of it—appears to be on course for a U-turn as work previously pushed offshore might be coming home. Statistics on the reshoring of U.S. manufacturing are hard to come by, but mill suppliers see an interest.
The bottom line: rising material and logistics costs, along with currency factors and speed of turnaround, are dimming the shine of offshore sourcing by U.S. parts suppliers. But whether an all-out shift in gear is looming remains to be seen.
After years of moving big parts of America’s manufacturing base overseas, does it make sense to expect that much of it can return? While it won’t be immediate, the answer in the long haul appears to be “yes.”
BANGKOK, Thailand: Put together more than $1 trillion in mismanaged bank credit, a housing market some say is in worse shape than it was in the U.S. before the sub-prime crash, rising inflation and a troubled labor market, and China’s near-term future looks grim. But just as the country’s state-driven economy has managed to absorb and overcome a number of challenges in recent decades, there seems to be a good chance that it will ride out the latest troubles.
SANTIAGO, Chile: After suffering a disastrous earthquake in February, Chile is starting to rebuild. The government has begun implementing reconstruction plans estimated to cost $8.4 billion, Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s new president, said in his first presidential speech in May, with most of the money earmarked to rebuild destroyed hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and airports.
Sometimes, so the saying goes, our success contains the seeds of our destruction. At other times, a phoenix is born out of the ashes. Both have proven to be the case in the scrap industry.
Kevin McCarthy’s varied background in recycling gives him an interesting outlook on where the industry is heading.
The philosophy underpinning the Steel Manufacturers Association’s conference schedule is similar to the ideology of its mini-mill electric furnace industry membership. The association holds only two events a year, taking pride in embracing a lean operating policy,
What does an Apple iPad have in common with solar power technology infrastructure? More than you might think. According to some aluminum producers, both markets are primed for serious growth and offer an exciting opportunity for the aluminum sector.
The competitive position of electric-arc furnace (EF) steel producers is dependent on an adequate domestic supply of reasonably priced ferrous scrap.
This time last year, the US steel industry’s capacity utilization was south of 50 percent and major markets were in full retreat. Twelve months have made a difference but ‘we still have a ways to go,’ says AK Steel’s James Wainscott, one of six executives who sat down with AMM at the AISI’s annual meeting in May to address a list of topics headed by the lack of a national manufacturing agenda.
It’s expensive, limits and coverage can change virtually overnight and more than a few subscribers are convinced that if you can get insurance on a certain customer you likely didn’t need it in the first place. AMM surveyed its readers to get a real-world fix on the state of play between insurers and the metals supply chain. The results may surprise you.
The majority of metal market participants in North America would not consider trading with a Chinese company without secured credit, according to AMM’s survey on credit insurance, demonstrating the strength of suspicion still felt towards companies there.
Some things change, others don’t. For the fourth year running, and despite an almost 30-percent decline in its raw steel output, ArcelorMittal SA maintained its claim as the world’s largest steelmaker in 2009—and by a still-large margin, although the Chinese are steadily closing the gap.
Iron ore appears poised to join the list of steelmaking raw materials that come coupled with a surcharge. Why now? A convergence of rapidly rising iron ore prices and bedrock changes in the structure of iron ore contracts that together promise to send tremors through the supply chain.
Just over a year since Philip Martens joined the aluminum rolled products maker, his hand-crafted ‘One Novelis’ strategy is paying dividends beyond a swing from $1.91 billion in red ink in fiscal ’08 to $405 million in net income last year. Besides overhauling the corporate structure, the former auto exec has joined forces with rival Alcoa to form Evermore Recycling and is investing globally.
There have been three tragedies in the recent news that to most people would seem totally unrelated. I believe there is a common thread running through all three.
A year ago, I posed the question of whether or not we were sitting on the precipice of yet another new world order—one either dominated by wrenching contraction or perhaps just a lull in the emerging market juggernaut. Clearly, since that time I’ve been confirmed in my belief that the emerging juggernaut—China—continues to emerge and the relative pace has quickened.
Somewhere in the region of 1,000 leaders from all aspects of the steel industry will convene in New York this month for what has become an annual summit of the sector’s movers and shakers.
Every month American Metal Market takes a statistical look inside the marketplace.
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