From the category archives:

Geography

US long products imports rose over 50% in January

February 19, 2009

Based on reported US import licenses, long products imports in January rose 57% to 280,000 short tons compared to actual December imports of 178,000 tons. The January increase was mainly due to growth in rebar and sections licenses. Rebar imports grew from December actual levels of 14,000 tons to January licenses of 65,000 tons. Sections […]

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China results for Dec: crude production and exports up 7%

February 17, 2009

Crude steel production in China reversed its decline and climbed 7% to reach 37.8 million metric tonnes in December.  December finished steel exports also grew by the same percentage to 3.2 million tonnes.  Crude steel production was 9% below its level in December 2007 and exports were 34% lower. Full-year 2008 crude production rose by […]

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“Buy American” video – Steel & the Stimulus Package

February 16, 2009

CBS News magazine 60 Minutes last night reported on the “Buy American” steel aspects of the current stimulus package. The video below features Nucor employees and CEO Dan DiMicco. One of the most interesting comments comes from a group of inside salespeople who explain how in one week in December total orders were negative as […]

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European steel production and demand forecast 2009

February 6, 2009

We’re not a forecasting firm, we’re strategy consultants. But lately macroeconomic developments are at the forefront of everyone’s mind, for obvious reasons. So we’ve endeavored to keep you abreast of the latest forecasts and what they might mean for steel production and demand.  In this vein, I received the following question yesterday from one of […]

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2008 World Steel Production by Country by Month

January 23, 2009

The World Steel Association just published crude steel production numbers by country for December 2008 so we have provisional 2008 full year data. There are are plenty of articles about the changes in 2008 – like this one from SBB. But if you’re a real nerd, you’ll want the data in a form you can […]

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Where to get European scrap price data

January 19, 2009

A Nerds of Steel reader in Australia wrote recently to ask where to find Turkish scrap prices. As we’re always trying to accelerate readers research and reduce their costs, I am following up with information on good sources of European scrap prices. Subscribers to Steel Business Briefing and Metal Bulletin can find European scrap prices […]

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