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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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With her remarkable swordsmanship in Kill Bill 1 and Kill Bill 2, we have Uma Thurman — and that killer Hattori Hanzo samurai sword — to thank for some of the best sword fights in recent movie history. Then again, critics could also praise the swordplay in Seven Samurai. And The Princess Bride. And even […]

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We had a chance to take in a little R&R this weekend at a farm we go to in Wisconsin. Looking at the cows and pigs, I was trying to find a topic that may be fitting for the sights when lo and behold I stumbled upon this story.
The plethora of headlines highlighting who is doing […]

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My hometown paper, The Chicago Tribune had a great little article on an anti-dumping case involving dry cleaner hangers. It’s interesting because everyone who takes their clothes to the dry cleaners will feel the pain of the ITC’s (International Trade Commission) ruling. Our government ruled in favor of the hanger producers here in the US […]

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I grew up in a family of teachers, writers and musicians (though my mother should have been a mechanical engineer). So having a son who is obsessed with manufacturing processes (his favorite show is How It’s Made) gives me a chuckle. It’s not enough for him to know that his new Razor is made of […]

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The big three automakers have moved from public auctions to discrete swaps and return deals with the steel producers in return for new coil. They are fixing the prices via agreed upon formulas which presumably are more to the auto makers’ liking than the auction prices they were previously getting (and had expressed disappointment in). 
By […]

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Like some of you, I read a lot of procurement trade magazines. Many of these magazines sit un-read next to my bed stand, primarily because they lack a catchy title to get me to stay awake long enough to read. But every once in awhile, I come across a story with a few nuggets of […]

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