It’s an oft-cited fact that the steel price and level of demand is driven by a burgeoning need from China — yet in a recent conference speech, Xiong Bilin of the Chinese NDRC is reported to have said that China has 500 million tons of steel producing capacity and supply exceeds demand. In the same [...]
Despite new recycling programs, mobile phones can’t always count on life after death. Most people are too busy to search for those opportunities. That’s a shame for those in the metals industry, since copper, platinum and silver are just a few of the metals that are discarded when cell phones move to the local landfill. [...]
It’s holiday time in the States, so the MetalMiner team thought we would take a day off to remember those who have served our country and fought for democracy and our free market system. I refer to affiliate blog Spend Matters for a little bit of history. In the meantime, between hot dogs and hamburgers, [...]
A cost down from the American automotive industry? Surely you jest. As you read in MetalMiner’s last post, US automakers are in trouble financially – and Chrysler’s recent announcement that it is seeking a 25% cut in parts prices doesn’t change this writer’s point of view. Although Chrysler’s CPO, John Campi, intends to meet with legendary [...]
Buying a new car could become more expensive in the approaching months. Last week, automaker Honda Motor Co. announced that higher steel and other raw material costs could cause the company to increase the price of their vehicles. Honda, along with Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., shared expectations of an operating profit drop in [...]
Imagine this headline: “Rio Tinto Just Found a Whole Load of Copper”. Or this one: “BHP to Swallow Rio Tinto”. Both are real, and both came from Forbes. What’s interesting is the timing of one in conjunction with the second. As has been widely reported, BHP made a hostile takeover bid for Rio Tinto back [...]
The announcement that Boeing will be offering increased quantities of aluminum scrap for auction this quarter may indicate an increase in activity at the Seattle plane maker and will certainly be a welcome increase in supply to a market in need of more top quality segregated scrap. Lack of plentiful good quality scrap has been [...]
The summer has almost arrived, and wedding bells are ringing; flower girls are singing, and caterers and cakes and florists abound. People used to consider weddings an important time to splurge, lavishly spending money on that meaningful day. But with unstable economics, tighter budgets, and volatility in the precious metals arena, who wants to spend [...]
