From the category archives:

Geography

Steel industry capacity utilization falls below 70%

November 5, 2008

Data just released by the AISI shows raw steel capacity utilization at 67.3% during the last week of October, down from close to 90% a couple months ago.  How does utilization below 70% compare to previous recessions?  And how long might it last?  A review of historical data is always a good place to start […]

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China results for Sept: crude production drops 7%

November 5, 2008

Crude steel production in China dropped 7% between August and September, falling to 39.61 million metric tonnes. This is the lowest crude production level since the June peak of 46.94mt. Net exports dropped from 6.35mt to 5.39mt in September due to a 1mt decline in exports.  

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Chinese steel industry downturn reports

November 3, 2008

Some of you may have caught this article from China Daily as it passed through the newsfeed in the Nerds sidebars. It’s an account of the current downturn in the Chinese steel industry. For example: According to China Iron and Steel Association, most large steel firms have only managed to break even since July and […]

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Steel producer output reductions by date

October 23, 2008

Reuters India has very helpfully provided a chronology of recent steel industry production cuts going back to the middle of September. This is the link to the article. While the FT today reports the slowdown of Chinese steel production. The essence of the FT report is this… Shan Shanghua, secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association, […]

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US long products imports remain low in September

October 17, 2008

US long products import licenses stayed low at 207,000 short tons in September, compared to August actual imports of 232,000 tons.  Licenses granted up to October 15th indicate that rebar imports in October will decline significantly compared to typical monthly levels (16,000 tons of rebar licenses to October 15th compared to 83,000 tons of actual […]

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Revised US imports of wire rod in July

September 25, 2008

July wire rod imports reported in our earlier post have been revised to 94,000 tons. The earlier figure was incorrect because it did not account for a change in wire rod import codes put into effect in July. See the updated spreadsheet below.  

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