Industrial metal buying organizations are in a difficult spot these days, as commodities are entrenched in a bull market. After the initial demand hit that commodities took on at the end of Q1 2020 with the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, materials prices have skyrocketed. Lead times have lengthened and demand for everything from automobiles […]
Category: Sourcing Strategies
Biden signs executive order aimed at securing supply chains for semiconductors, critical minerals
President Joe Biden’s latest executive order seeks to secure a variety of important supply chains. For example, in one higher-profile case, General Motors recently announced it would extend downtimes at several plants as a result of a semiconductor shortage. As we’ve noted in our Rare Earths Monthly Metals Index (MMI) series, rare earths supply has […]
This Morning in Metals: Officials break ground for AM/NS Calvert expansion project
This morning in metals news: officials held a groundbreaking ceremony at the AM/NS Calvert mill earlier this month; President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order that calls for assessments of several critical supply chains; and US housing starts fell in January. AM/NS Calvert officials hail expansion project Officials celebrated the imminent expansion […]
Biden executive orders target climate change, federal procurement of domestic goods
In just over two weeks, President Joe Biden has signed 28 executive orders aimed at a wide variety of issues. The orders range from Medicaid to the country’s pandemic response to augmenting public health supply chains. Relevant to metals, Biden signed two orders aimed at increasing domestic content in federal procurement and the climate crisis. […]
LME steel contracts build momentum
Steel is the world’s second-largest commodity after crude oil. It is 15 times the size of all other metals markets combined in terms of metric tons. Furthermore, it is worth twice their value. Yet, until recently, it was an industry that saw little use for a futures market. That is primarily because major steel participants […]
Could the pandemic achieve what President Trump’s trade war failed to do?
Could the coronavirus pandemic bring about more reshoring in the U.S.? The question is not just of interest in the U.S. By many measures, Europe has been hit as severely by the pandemic. If anything, Europe is even more reliant on global supply chains than the U.S. The political philosophy that underpinned the Trump administration’s […]
Week in Review: Organic molecules and machinability; gold prices; allocation market for steel
Before we head into the penultimate weekend of 2020, let’s take a look back at the week that was and some of the metals storylines here on MetalMiner, including: research findings related to organic molecules’ impact on machinability; gold prices; and the arrival of an allocation market for steel-buying organizations, as explained by MetalMiner CEO […]
‘A’ is for allocation steel markets
Not so long ago on a fall night here in Chicago, I had the opportunity to meet up with a couple of folks from a steel producer. What they told me then sounded a little scary — they suggested the “A” word — but not nearly as scary as current market conditions suggest. In metals […]
Aluminum can market fizzes amid struggle to meet surging demand
Aerospace may be down, automotive is coming back, albeit going through immense change from internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric vehicles (EVs), but one sector of the aluminum market that is brewing up a storm is the aluminum can market. Are you prepared for your annual aluminum contract negotiations? Be sure to check out our […]
The case for globalization is on shakier ground
The widely, if not universally, held belief that globalization is a win-win panacea for growth has never looked shakier. While President Donald Trump has led the charge on calling out the failings of unfettered engagement with China and all that entails in terms of loss of manufacturing capability and sharing of hard-won technology, he is […]