Platts reported that, while some zinc players report seeing the first glimmers of an economic restart, the mathematical realities of supply and demand are still holding sway for now, with price assessment for special high grade zinc inching down slightly to 2.8 cents plus LME cash from last week's 2.85 cents. An alloyer source told Platts that "I haven't seen a pickup in demand at all. Despite some talk of…

Emirates Steel Industries announced that it has commenced the commissioning of its new steelmaking plant in Mussafah. Construction of the country's first integrated steelmaking operation continues to advance with the commissioning of a world-scale plant that will produce steel billets, the raw material for ES's new state of the-art rolling mills. This latest plant includes an electric arc furnace and a…

It is reported that the overnight ousting of Mr Rick Wagoner and Mr Christian Streiff as CEOs of General Motors and Peugeot Citroën respectively sent tremors through the boardrooms of Europe's battered auto industry. As per report, Mr Dieter Zetsche head of Mercedes owner Daimler and Mr Norbert Reithofer head of Quandt family controlled BMW could be next in the firing line as premium carmakers suffer…

It is reported that although most of the aluminum producers have cut their product in response to the market downturn, Dubai Aluminum Company plans not to cut its production and even announce to expand its capacity by taking advantage of low material costs. The company estimated its aluminum annual output will reach 950,000 tonne in 2009 and plans to boost its annual output to 1.4 million tonnes during…

United Company RusAl said that aluminum prices were bottoming out and that a very significant recovery was expected in 2011. Mr Artyom Volynets director of corporate strategy in an interview after a presentation to analysts in London said that aluminum prices, currently at about USD 1,420 per tonne would remain volatile this year before rising USD 200 to USD 300 in 2010 ahead of a big improvement in 2011.Mr…

Layoff plans at Fort Wayne Foundry Corp. will cut deeper than indicated early this month. According to notices filed with the state's Department of Workforce Development this week, 174 employees at the company's Lima Road division will be laid off sometime in June, along with 52 workers at its machining division at the same time. At the Lima Road operation, workers who will be laid off include 156 hourly…

Reuters reported that ThyssenKrupp will implement a re organization by October 2009 in an effort to make it leaner and more responsive. Mr Ekkehard Schulz CEO of ThyssenKrupp said that a more centralized structure will help ThyssenKrupp respond more quickly to the market. He added that he could not rule out forced layoffs and plant closure but declined to elaborate. He said that there would be no forced…

UK based MEPS said that mill outages continue in the US, with operating levels now under 50%. There is still negative pressure on transaction prices as sales fail to recover. All the major steel consuming sectors are affected by the financial and economic crisis - from construction through to manufacturing and particularly the auto industry. Moreover, distributors are buying very little as they wait to see…

Titagarh Wagons on Saturday decided to merge Titagarh Steel an associate and listed company, with itself. Mr Umesh Chowdhary vice chairman & MD of TWL told Business Line that the company had short listed five consultants including KPMG, Grant Thornton and Haribhakti & Co to select a valuer for the merger exercise. He said that “We expect to choose the valuer and have the valuation report within a month. The…

also available in YXLON International, a leading provider of problem-solving solutions in industrial X-ray inspection and computed tomography (CT) for inspecting materials on a non-destructive basis, is presenting Y.CT Vario, its new CT scanner, at the international CONTROL trade fair (Hall 1 Booth 1522) for quality assurance in Stuttgart, Germany. The Y.CT Vario sets itself apart through an optimum…