November 2008

Aluminum and Leftover Turkey: Journey to the Smithsonian

by Lisa Reisman on November 28, 2008

Style:    Category: Humor

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Ah, Thanksgiving. A time for Americans to recognize their blessings, spend time with loved ones, and cradle plates filled with sweet potatoes and turkey. The U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday: giving thanks, snacking on mashed potatoes, and watching parades and football games. For those already missing the holiday, leftover turkey sandwiches serve as a reminder. An [...]

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BHP Billiton Withdraws Rio Tinto Bid

by Lisa Reisman on November 26, 2008

Style:    Category: M&A Activity

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Steelmakers can finally smile. As commodity prices hit a major slump this fall, BHP Billiton shareholders started to side with the steelmakers weary of a duopoly, finally fearing that the proposed Rio Tinto takeover — a $70 billion hostile bid — might no longer meet the company’s best interest. This Tuesday, mining company BHP Billiton dropped [...]

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Shoring Up The Price of Iron Ore

by Lisa Reisman on November 26, 2008

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferrous Metals, Supply & Demand

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As anyone following the metals industries knows, producers from around the world in every metal sector and every part of the supply chain have cut or will cut production as a move to help establish a floor to metals prices. But what can the world’s largest mining companies do to shore up the price of [...]

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Hedge Funds Return to Market

by Stuart Burns on November 26, 2008

Style:    Category: Commodities, Inventory Stock Levels, Supply & Demand

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As BHP calls off its attempts to take over Rio Tinto on the grounds that the decline in metals and minerals prices makes the price and likely regulatory requirements no longer attractive, it raises the question at what point will consolidation in the mining sector resume? For the time being, the availability of finance is [...]

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Tata Steel Compares Profitability Between India and Europe

by Stuart Burns on November 25, 2008

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferrous Metals

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Tata Steel is looking to bring profit margins to Corus, its European operation, closer to those enjoyed by its Indian operations, notably Jamshedpur, near Calcutta in Eastern India. Tata’s four European Corus plants, at Scunthorpe, Port Talbot and Teesside (ex British Steel plants) in the UK and Ijmuiden in the Netherlands average some 7% EBITDA (earnings [...]

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Poor GM: Cost Cutting in all the Small Places

by Lisa Reisman on November 25, 2008

Style:    Category: Sourcing Strategies

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GM sure has seen better days from a public relations perspective. My husband absolutely bashed the auto manufacturer for showing up at congressional hearings having taken the company jet. His postscript note was written specifically for me because I disagreed with him that this was an over-reaction on the part of the media. Sure, perception [...]

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Tales from the Rio Grande Part Two

by Lisa Reisman on November 24, 2008

Style:    Category: Global Trade

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You may read the first part of this post here The other story I heard while down in Mexico was the US parent company’s efforts to “manage down” to the smallest dollar amount of crime possible. In other words, US companies have developed policies and procedures to monitor and take action against employees in these [...]

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Tales From the Rio Grande (Part One)

by Lisa Reisman on November 24, 2008

Style:    Category: Global Trade

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Last week I had the opportunity to visit a client in Texas with a plant just across the border in Mexico. I always enjoy these types of trips not only because I believe that each client has something to teach us but each experience offers an opportunity to expand one’s horizons. Unfortunately, the trip to [...]

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