Last week, Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco sat down with Maria Bartiromo in an 8:30 minute segment on the state of the US economy, where and how the government and private sector can come together to help US companies better compete both domestically and globally as well as share some interesting statistics about the historical contribution of US manufacturing to GDP. Dan believes a tighter partnership between the government and the private sector looking at a range of issues from the trade deficit to energy independence to holding overseas trading partners accountable to WTO rules are all part of the solution to help grow the US economy. As he points out, the Chinese “got it right with their $700b stimulus on infrastructure” whereas our programs went to ‘sugar highs’ taking us from one bubble of overspending to the next.

And even though Dan admits he wears red because he is a Yankees fan (we won’t hold that against him), he also explains why Nucor employees wear red on Fridays:


We’d welcome your comments and reaction to the segment in the comments section below.

–Lisa Reisman

Disclosure: Nucor is a paid sponsor of MetalMiner.

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The dreams of 16th century explorers and 21st century politicians appear to be finally realized as Russia successfully sailed a 70,000 ton gas tanker through its North East Passage. The Baltica, owned by the Russian state owned shipping company Sovcomflot took just 11 days to travel from Russia’s Murmansk to China’s Ningbo port last month. The North East Passage, so named by the British when Greenwich was considered the center of the nautical world, represents the route from Europe to Asia as opposed to Canada’s North West Passage which marks the route from eastern North America to Asia but really cuts across the same sea just on the other side of the North Pole. As this map from Arctic Portal shows:

A Telegraph report quotes expert estimates that the North East Passage could be four times cheaper in terms of fuel and charter time than the conventional route via the Suez Canal for cargo sailing between Europe and Asia, although how they come up with that figure is debatable when one considers the distance is said to be 13,000 kms as against 22,000 kms. Nevertheless such a difference still offers the potential for halving transit times for the few brief weeks a year when the passage is likely to be open. Sea ice has been receding for the last few decades and 2007, 2008 and 2009 where the record years for the smallest polar ice cap making the channels wider and the number of icebergs fewer. Even so vessels had to be attended by ice breakers at critical points to ensure they were not caught, and explains Russia’s enthusiasm for opening up this route as they see provision of ice breakers and the establishment of repair ports along their northern coast as potentially lucrative sources of revenue.

This is not the first commercial transit of the North East Passage though by any means. During Soviet times, Russian traders regularly navigated the northern coast transporting fuel, supplies and other goods to remote Arctic settlements but they were not using the passage as a route to Asia. Last year, two German cargo vessels carried 3,500 tons of construction parts from Ulsan in Korea to Yamburg in Siberia. In the process they saved about $300,000 in fuel costs, scale that up to a super tanker and the financial incentives become quite compelling. The Germans biggest challenge was said to be Russian red tape in getting the necessary permits rather than the arctic ice. The biggest challenge though is undoubtedly the short season, the route is only open for about two to three months a year at present, although on current warming trends this may gradually increase in the years ahead. The voyage is still sufficiently dangerous that an ice tanker is needed to make the journey, and in the case of the Baltica it was accompanied for much of the 2000kms northern route by not one but two nuclear powered ice-breakers. Nevertheless it is an interesting expansion of Arctic commercial exploitation which is likely to escalate in the years to come as moves to exploit oil, gas and minerals are ramped up.

–Stuart Burns

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Are Iron Ore Prices Providing Signals on Steel Prices?

September 2, 2010

We have seen a couple of reports in recent days providing conflicting signals regarding domestic steel prices. According to an IHS Global Insight report, prices will fall despite mills’ attempts to raise them. On the flip side, Steel Business Briefing has reported, “US prices could pick up near-term then slide into 2011.” According to Josh [...]

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Apple’s Manufacturing Move to Liquidmetal

September 1, 2010

Apple invited journalists to its annual back-to-school event this September 1, where they were greeted by a large graphic of an acoustic guitar incorporating the Apple logo. This fed speculation that iTunes would be center stage. What shares a big chunk of this stage is Apple’s recent deal with Liquidmetal Technologies, one of the leaders [...]

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Commerce Department Ruling on China Trade Practices Imminent

September 1, 2010

The US argument with China over its currency looks set to roll on as the markets wait to hear whether the US Commerce Department will investigate if China’s currency practices subsidize its exports and warrant U.S. duties in response.  A Reuters article this week said the case is being brought by US manufacturers against Chinese-made [...]

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Wind Power Meets a Formidable Obstacle

September 1, 2010

What is the biggest impediment to the roll out of environmentalists wind powered future? Is it finance in this cash strapped world, is it lack of suitable windy places, is it that the economic viability is based on subsidies that could be withdrawn or scaled back as they have been in Spain?
No, according to a [...]

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Turkey – Part of Europe or Part of the Middle East?

August 31, 2010

The debate about whether Turkey should join the European Union has raged ever since the idea was first raised in 1963, along with a dozen sub arguments about if they join, when they join, on what terms and so on. Turkey’s membership is both an enormous opportunity for Europe and an enormous risk, and the [...]

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Should I or Should I Not Buy a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle – That is the Question

August 31, 2010

I’m going to apologize up front and state that this post is not a post but in fact a rant. I’m going to chalk it up to “it’s still summer time” so we can get away with a few of these.  Yesterday, I casually flipped to the Wall Street Journal (I try to do that [...]

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