48 Major Steel Mills in The Red
January 2, 2009
About two thirds of China’s major steel mills were in the red in November, suffering from high prices in raw materials and the decreasing prices of steel products.
Forty-eight out of 71 large and medium-sized domestic steelmakers saw a loss in November (six more than in October), with total losses for the month in the neighborhood of 12.77 billion yuan, China Securities Journal reported yesterday citing anonymous sources.
Analysts largely contributed the loss to high iron ore prices and dropping steel prices, and they remained pessimistic for the mills’ performance in December.
Chinese steelmakers agreed to pay a record of $92 per ton for iron ore in the 2008 long-term contract, and steel prices have dropped about 40 percent since June as a result of the global financial crisis.
Authorities are considering measures including buying some steel products for reserves to help the industry through the rough time, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong recently said in Beijing.
Reports said the government would likely spend 10-15 billion yuan to establish a reserve of 3-5 million tons.
Some major steelmakers have increased steel prices on the news.
Angang Steel will raise the price of hot rolling steel by 350 yuan per ton from January; Shougang Group will rise by 300 yuan per ton and China’s largest steelmaker Baosteel will also raise product prices by 6 to 10 percent from February.
Analysts said building up stocks may provide some support to prices in the short term, but the policy could also mean producers take longer to emerge from the current slump in demand with a U-shaped recovery rather than a V-shaped bounce, since the government stocks may return to the market as prices recover.
The government could also increase export tax rebates on high-end steel products and will encourage industry reshuffling as well as innovation.
Source: China Steel Net.com
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China’s largest steel maker is being created
January 1, 2009
Three Chinese steel companies — Tangshan Iron and Steel Co, Handan Iron and Steel Group and Chengde Xinin Vanadium and Titanium Co — agreed on Tuesday to merge, creating the biggest listed steel maker in China.
The three Hebei-based companies were all listed companies under Hebei Iron and Steel Group. The new entity will be the only listed company of the group after the merger.
Annual production of raw steel will be about 32 million tonnes, which will be more than Baosteel’s 30 million tonnes.
Tangshan will merge with the two smaller firms through share swaps. One Handan share will be swapped for 0.775 Tangshan share and one Chengdu share for 1.089 Tangshang shares, according to the agreement.
Handan and Chengde would cease to exist as separate legal entities and their assets, debts, businesses and staff would go to Tangshan, analysts said.
Tangshan said the new company would be the only target of any asset injection by the parent company and thus the only beneficiary.
Hu Yanping, steel analyst with Umetal.com, said the merger would not increase the new company’s profitability in the short term, although its production capacity would be the largest in China.
“The move will enhance steel industry restructuring, which will cushion the blow [against the industry] as the financial crisis has hurt economic growth.”
The plan still needs shareholder and regulatory approval.
Shares of the three companies had been suspended since August 28. Trading resumed on Tuesday.
Tangshan fell by the daily limit of 10 percent to 4.10 yuan (about 58 US cents) from the previous trading day. Handan fell 8.78 percent to 3.43 yuan and Chengde fell by the daily limit to 4.95 yuan.
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Safer Parking award from the British Parking Association
December 28, 2008
Westfield London, the capitals newest shopping centre, has been awarded a Safer Parking award from the British Parking Association (BPA) within its first six weeks of opening. Europes biggest inner city shopping and leisure destination received Park Mark status at a recent ceremony for providing a safe parking facility with 4,500 spaces.
| Car park manager, Gary Lee was presented with the Park Mark Award from Sector Inspector Paul Banbro of Hammersmith & Fulham Metropolitan Police Borough. PC David Hinton was also at the presentation. The team is directly responsible for the Policing of the Westfield London Shopping Centre.
The Safer Parking Scheme (SPS), run by the BPA for the Association of Chief Police Officers, was developed to provide a benchmark standard for all parking areas across the UK, to create safer parking both for the public and their vehicles. The Park Mark Safer Parking Award is granted to parking areas that have achieved the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the Police. These requirements mean the parking operator has put in place measures that help to deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, thereby doing everything they can to prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime in their parking area. |
| Gary Lee said: We are delighted to receive Park Mark status in the opening weeks of the new centre. We are committed to the highest level of customer service, and with Christmas due to be our busiest time, it was vital to provide all our shoppers with a safe and reliable parking facility while they enjoy the new centre.
The shopping centre in Shepherds Bush has a vehicle management system to indicate parking availability and also offers a valet parking service for the convenience of its customers. Kelvin Reynolds, head of SPS at the British Parking Association, said: With the number of Park Mark awards on the increase – we now have over 3,700 members – it proves that the scheme is an invaluable tool in helping to make parking environments safe and increasing public reassurance in these areas. When drivers leave their cars in Park Mark award facilities they will find them exactly as they left them on their return.
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Latest Production News of Cement in CHINA
December 17, 2008
One of the main factors shaping the costs of Chinese factories is naturally the prices of commodity & raw materials such us oil, electricity, wages, iron & steel, plastics etc. We are closely following those trends to sharpen our market analysis and forecasts the direction of cost & price movements.
Here is one of those factors, latest cement news:
CHINA’S cement production saw a slower growth at 2.8 percent year on year to about 1.27 billion tons in the first 11 months of this year, according to figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Experts attributed the slower growth pace to the adverse effects of the deepening global economic crisis and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.
Although the growth rate had been on a downward trend since September, the industrial upgrading process was moving forward, with the total industrial output of cement businesses reaching 456.8 billion yuan (US$66.7 billion) from January to last month, up 21.25 percent on year, said the ministry.
Meanwhile, the ex-factory wholesale cement price gained 12 percent from January to October year on year. The cement industry is set to post a stable growth with the implementation of China’s 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package, experts said.
China last month unveiled the package to avert an economic slump, with the funds to be spent over the next two years.
Source: China Daily
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Qi says hard times for steel to continue
December 8, 2008
For the buyers importing steel from China or having domestic demand to Chinese suppliers must keep on suppliers. Here is the latest news from Chinese supliers:
CHINA’S steel industry has entered a hard time after seven years of rapid expansion, and a turnaround is unlikely until the second quarter of next year, according to Qi Xiangdong, deputy secretary with China Iron and Steel Association.
Slackening demand at home and overseas has hit the country’s 71 major steel makers, said Qi.
Their profit totaled 126.8 billion yuan (US$18.5 billion) during the January-October period, down 0.93 percent from a year earlier.
Forty-two large or medium-sized steel companies posted losses in October. The combined losses reached 7.8 billion yuan.
The proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy as well as the central government’s efforts to boost domestic demand and fixed asset investments would all have a positive impact on the development of the steel manufacturing industry in 2009, Qi said.
Last month, China unveiled an estimated 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package as part of its bid to offset adverse global economic conditions by boosting domestic demand.
The money is to be spent over the next two years to finance programs including low-income housing, rural infrastructure, water, electricity, transportation, the environment, technological innovation and rebuilding from several disasters, most notably the May 12 earthquake.
Although the elimination of export duties on 67 types of steel from December 1 would help cut the cost of exports, Qi expected steel exports to slump next year due to dwindling global demand.
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