My learned colleague Stuart mentioned to me yesterday that he saw an article in a trial subscription of Steel Business Briefing, that steel producers in the US “were exporting finished products overseas at under domestic prices.” Now if that wasn’t a hoot given all the squawking by US steel companies over foreign material entering the […]

[Read more →]

This quiz takes 1-10 seconds to answer. It’s 1 question.You must register to take this quiz and you may take it multiple timesIf you’ve already registered for this quiz and want to take it again then enter your details below to proceed:.* Required Fields

* Name:
* Email:
* Company:
* Phone:

How […]

[Read more →]

The price of oil has come down significantly over the last week or so falling from over $147/barrel to $126/barrel as of this writing. Is this the top of the chart and if it continues to fall what can we expect for metals?
Some are still predicting $250/barrel for oil next year, though others have called $50/barrel. Both seem […]

[Read more →]

In a rather shocking story that came out late last week, Johnson Controls, the interiors and seating system Tier 1 automotive supplier, sued four suppliers for levying steel surcharges on them, alleging the suppliers had violated their purchasing contract. The story is rather shocking not because automotive suppliers have been squeezed considerably since the start […]

[Read more →]

Although worldwide immunization efforts have resulted in a steady decline of polio cases, the disabling disease is still a fact of life in a small number of countries. More than 1,000 cases were reported in Africa in 2004. A viral disease, polio can damage the nervous system and even cause paralysis, and in several countries, […]

[Read more →]

MetalMiner has always held a strong free market philosophy. Our belief is in most cases the benefits of lower cost material to consumers outweighs the damage to domestic producers that global trade can bring. In our experience, calls for anti- dumping fines, import tariffs or quotas are nearly always brought by large industrial producers.  The losers […]

[Read more →]

For those that follow the new LME Billet contract, or those that want to once we launch our new premium service, MetalMiner IndX (SM) which daily tracks this and many other metals, there has been a telling development in the prices over the last week few weeks or so. Amid continuous reports of rising steel costs, prices for […]

[Read more →]

Photo: Aluminum, titanium and platinum, in unexpected colors.
Credit: Richard Baker, University of Rochester.
In 2006, U.S. scientists announced the first step to a perfect, pitch-black Batmobile for the hero of The Dark Knight. Using lasers (or more accurately, a quick beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse), scientists discovered a way to alter the surface properties of […]

[Read more →]

Type in “Doha trade talks and steel” into Google and few if any articles appear. And yet I can’t help but fear that the latest round of Doha trade talks starting again this week may have profound long term implications on metals buyers across this country and elsewhere. First, a re-cap of Doha and who/what […]

[Read more →]

It surprised me to read how little platinum is actually in circulation, even though one in five goods manufactured either contains or is produced using the metal. According to the article, all the platinum ever mined would fit in a room measuring 25ft square (I notice they didn’t say how high it was though!). Nevertheless, when […]

[Read more →]