Earlier this summer, we reported problems for metals and mining companies when the metals and mining sector was hit with declines of approximately 16 percent. If anything, the sector has seen more problems since that announcement. Although mining companies are throwing billions of dollars at projects this year, they might have to wait several more years [...]
Since “going green” has recently been touted as a way to save money and not just the environment (although saving the environment is a definite plus!), several readers have asked us to cover more eco-friendly topics on lean, green sourcing strategies and innovations in the metals industry. Today, we’ve decided to pull some of our most [...]
Given the lack of automotive sales in the US, there sure have been a lot of automotive companies in the news these past few weeks. Last week we covered a few of those stories including a post on the long term prospects for blanket purchase orders to the use of price indexes by GM to [...]
A new process for producing large titanium aerospace parts hopes to reach commercial use in the next year or two. Traditional methods of machining from rolled or forged blocks can waste up to 95% of the raw material. The new method originally patented by Rolls Royce a few years ago called Shaped Metal Deposition, manufactures [...]
You can read our coverage on Part One here and Part Two here. This is a follow-on piece to our previous base metals quarterly pricing update post from last week. You can read that post here. What to make of the stainless steel market? The market has been depressed by falling demand and a massive [...]
If you write a blog that focuses on sourcing and trading intelligence for global metals markets, topics like macroeconomics have to remain top of mind. Whether we’re discussing industrial bellwethers, speculators, inflation or emerging markets, we try to stick with fresh, interesting topics and offer insightful commentary that you can’t find anywhere else. What a Bellwether Tells [...]
This is the second of a three part series on steel pricing trends. You can read Part One here. The steel coverage is a follow-on piece to our previous base metals quarterly pricing update post from last week. You may also read that post here. Interestingly we are seeing the first signs of pressure easing [...]
This is an interesting story on two levels. On the first level, it is fascinating to see how niche businesses like pawnbroking have also been affected by the rise in gold prices. H&T, the UK’s largest pawn broker, typically disposes of about a fifth of its stock as scrap but with Gold prices at record levels last [...]
