PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. exports of No. 1 heavy melting steel scrap slid nearly 30 percent in October, but industry sources said the decline probably had more to do with reduced supplies of material than any weakening in offshore demand.

Shipments of the bellwether grade of cut ferrous scrap sagged to 85,845 short tons in October, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Commerce Department, down sharply from 122,598 tons delivered to foreign ports in September.

Shipments of No. 1 heavy melt might have been lighter in October, but the companion grades took up more space aboard vessels. Exports of No. 2 heavy melt almost doubled in October to 26,710 tons from 13,727 tons the previous month, while shipments of bonus grade (5-foot plate and structural scrap) nearly quadrupled to 38,163 tons from a little less than 10,000 tons in September.

U.S. scrap exporters shipped cut scrap as well as shredded to Turkey for the second consecutive month. Turkish steelmakers took in more than 37,000 tons of No. 1 heavy melt, almost 6,500 tons of No. 2 heavy melt and close to 12,000 tons of bonus grade from U.S. suppliers in October, in addition to 68,377 tons of shredded.

October was only the second month last year that Turkish mills purchased much tonnage of cut scrap from the United States. They imported nearly 39,000 tons of No. 1 heavy melt in September, but prior to that they had bought only 52 tons of the bonus grade in April, according to the Commerce data.

Turkey's steelmakers were a leading offshore market for U.S. exporters in the past decade, especially East Coast yards. But they all but disappeared from U.S. docks in 1999, when Russia and Ukraine began to play larger roles in the international ferrous scrap market. Now, however, higher export taxes in Ukraine and Russia, along with restrictions on ferrous scrap exports, have cut the supplies that Turkish mills relied upon in recent years.

In addition, stronger demand from other overseas steelmakers has created a sellers' markets for many U.S. scrap exporters. Despite October's decline, U.S. exports of No. 1 heavy melt for the first 10 months of last year were up 33.4 percent from the comparable period of 2001 and were 53 percent higher than in the first 10 months of 2000.

The percentage gains were even stronger for the other grades of cut ferrous scrap. Year-to-date exports of No. 2 heavy melt were up by 56.4 percent from the previous year and 90 percent from 2000, while bonus grade shipments were double those of 2001 and triple those of 2000.

US Exports of No. 1 Heavy Melting Steel

(in short tons)

                                           Year to date     Percent
            Oct.     Sept.     Aug.        2002      2001    change

Canada      2,247     1,434    1,562      12,496     9,201     +35.8
China      11,780    42,510      335     227,160   173,870     +30.6
Malaysia        0    12,578        0      78,620    84,458      -6.9
Mexico        990     3,361   10,246      89,414    30,331    +194.8
S. Korea   21,081    22,909   32,671     690,097   554,435     +24.5
Taiwan     10,227         0       66      26,757    26,184      +2.2
Turkey     37,096    38,972        0      76,068         0        --
Others      2,424       834    4,405      14,888    32,985     -54.9
Totals     85,845   122,598   49,285   1,215,500   911,464     +33.4

Source: Compiled by AMM from data released by the U.S. Commerce
Department.

LONDON -- International ferrous scrap export prices continue to rise "a dollar a day" and show no sign of slowing down as demand for ferrous raw materials continues to outstrip supply.

Export prices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for shredded scrap were reported at $142 per tonne f.o.b. Thursday, while a mixed cargo of No. 1 and No. 2 heavy melting steel (a 50/50 mix) was booked at $135 to $136 f.o.b., a rise of almost 20 percent com-pared with the second week of December and the highest prices quoted for these export grades of scrap in the past five years.

South Korean steel mills are paying $170 per tonne c.i.f. for shredded scrap and $165 for the No. 1 heavy melt portion of mixed car-goes from the U.S. East Coast, industry sources said--higher than the prices seen during the last peak in 1996 and 1997.

Turkish mills recently booked cargoes of A3 scrap at $140 per tonne c.i.f., but sellers now are asking for as much as $146 per tonne.

Steelmakers throughout Asia are bidding frantically for ferrous scrap, industry sources said. In addition to the Koreans, exporters are hearing from scrap buyers in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. At the same time, Turkish mills are attempting to cope with the loss of Ukrainian and Russian ferrous scrap sup-plies by buying more scrap from Europe and the United States.

The effect of the 30-euro-per-tonne ($31.74) tax on Ukrainian ferrous scrap exports has been hard to assess because winter ice is disrupting barge traffic along the rivers that access the Black Sea ports. Mills in Ukraine are understood to be paying around $80 per tonne for what little scrap they can get.

Meanwhile, deliveries from the Sea of Azov in Russia have stopped because ice has reached 6 feet thick in some places. About 80 vessels are stuck in the port of Azov, waiting for assistance from ice-breakers, and another 40 vessels are stranded on the ice edge outside the port.

Scrap traders are unlikely to charter more ships while such delays are occurring, since each vessel incurs a demurrage (an additional charge for a detained ship and cargo) of around $2,000 to $5,000 per day.

"There are lots of problems in the Black Sea area," a Turkish buyer said. "Prices are increasing almost every hour. The market is very hard."

One U.S. exporter said his company was so busy that traders now must write down the time as well as date when they booked a sale. Previously, he said, they only noted the date. "The market is moving up at a dollar a day; some days, it's $2," he added.

Most market observers said they expected the price spiral to ease when the spring thaw begins, but others said higher prices would persist until the end of the year.

So far, only India's mini-mills have shown any signs of backing away from the market. "There is no question that Indian production has diminished. (The steel mills) have refused to pay international rates for the last three or four months," said one exporter.

Any businessperson, in the scrap industry or other wise, knows that time is money. Not only do scrap processors strive to keep their machines up and running with as little downtime as possible, but with today's bullish market, they also try to squeeze every last bit of productivity out of each piece of equipment.

A small arsenal of attachments is available to for use with material handlers. By changing an attachment, a scrap processor can get two jobs out of one machine--switching out a shear for a magnet, for instance, gives the machine the ability to pull double-duty in the yard. Quick couplers can cut attachment change-outs from hours to minutes, according to Uwe Kausch, product line manager at Stanley LaBounty, Two Harbors, Minn., which manufacturers a quick coupler called the Rapid Tach III.

Quick couplers are especially popular in the demolition industry, where carriers like excavators are expected to perform a wide variety of tasks on the jobsite, Kausch says.

But multi-tasking is becoming more important at scrap yards, too. And this emphasis on equipment's flexibility makes quick-attach systems useful at the scrap yard.

THE NEED FOR SPEED. "Quick-attach systems are the perfect answer for jobs that call for machine capability and versatility," says Betsy Haskell of National Attachments, Gorham, Maine. National Attachments' quick-coupling systems are geared more for the demolition industry, but the principles of saved time, minimal manpower and increased use also apply to material handlers working on scrap yards.

In the scrap industry, all the commonly used attachments--grapples, magnets and shears--can be used with a quick-coupling system so that the same machine can perform a variety of tasks, from sizing material to feeing a baler to simply transporting scrap around the yard or loading it into trucks and barges.

"Basically, any pin-on attachment can benefit from a quick-attach system, providing that the quick-attach system is robust enough to handle the breakout or leverage forces that the attachment applies," says Kevin Loomis, hydraulic applications manager at Atlas Copco Construction Tools, Independence, Ohio.

While standard couplers are generally limited to making or breaking mechanical connections, quick-attach couplers make or break hydraulic or electrical connections in addition to mechanical connections between the machine and tool, says Neil LeBlanc, senior marketing consultant for Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill.

Systems can be hydraulic or mechanical. With a hydraulic quick coupler, the machine operator can change attachments without ever leaving the cab. In these systems, the coupler connects by picking up the tool and makes hydraulic hose connections simultaneously, says David Palvere, product line manager for Genesis Attachments, Superior, Wis., which manufactures a quick coupler designed for excavators.

In addition to being convenient, this feature also increases safety, says Paul Hill, products manager at Liebherr America Inc., Newport News, Va. "It is far better for the operator to be changing equipment from the cab instead of manually," he says.

Mechanical quick couplers require the operator to leave the cab, but the change can still be accomplished in a timely fashion, he says.

Suited for lighting billboards, parking areas, and architectural structures, ENBZ Intensity Series utilizes electronic ballasts and features independently replaceable and serviceable, modular LED light engines. Instant on/off actuation allows use with motion detector, and 10 lb products measure 14 x 14 x 4 in. Available in dimmable 120 Vac or non-dimmable 277 Vac input line voltage versions, 90 W fixture uses acrylic lens and comes in Cool White or Warm White.

TUSTIN, Calif., Sept. 6 -- Permlight Products announced today that it has launched the Enbryten Intensity line of LED flood lights for lighting billboards, parking areas, and facades of architectural structures. The ENBZ Intensity Series is designed to replace comparable metal halide fixtures with half the power, a major decrease in heat and weight, and substantially longer lifetime and less lumen depreciation -- in short, dramatic energy savings for outdoor applications.

The ENBZ Series is compact, measuring 14" square and less than 4" deep and weighing less than 10 pounds. The first product introduced will be a 90 Watt fixture comparable to a 150 Watt metal halide fixture in light output. The ENBZ utilizes electronic ballasts and features modular LED light engines that are independently replaceable and serviceable, greatly extending the lifetime of the fixture, and providing ease in maintenance.

"Where else can you get a flood light fixture where 20% of the light source can fail and it will still provide sufficient lighting?" asked Manuel Lynch, President and CEO of Permlight. "The modular nature and reduced operating temperature of the ENBZ Intensity series ensures worry-free operation with reduced maintenance at half the power consumption."

The ENBZ is simple to install, as it mounts to any pole or building using conventional adapters or mounting arms. The 10 pound weight easily meets the industry requirement of 50 pounds maximum for hanging from a standard wall mounted or overhead junction box.

The ENBZ Intensity design and components also offer increased benefit. ENBZ intensity features black powder coated housing with weatherproof and hinged lid for ease of repair. Lower operating temperatures of LED allow the ENBZ to use an acrylic lens that is safer and more vandal resistant than the glass used in metal halide fixtures. The ENBZ is available in dimmable 120VAC or non-dimmable 277VAC input line voltage versions and is offered in Cool White or Warm White.

A unique feature of the ENBZ is instant on/off actuation which means it can be paired with a motion detector, which is not possible for metal halide fixtures due to their slow warm-up period. Furthermore, the 120VAC ENBZ version can be line voltage dimmed for further savings in energy consumption. Permlight is introducing a controller in late September which will reduce the power to 20 Watts when no is present and increase to full intensity gradually as it detects motion.

The LEDs feature lumen per watt (LPW) efficacy greater than 60 lumens per watt. As with all Permlight Enbryten series, the product has a three-year warranty with an expected lifetime of 30,000-50,000 hours.

"We envision dramatic power savings for car dealerships, parking areas and billboard operators by reducing energy consumption by 50% over metal halide," continued Lynch. "We also expect significant reduction in maintenance costs by extending the useable lifetime of the light to 10-12 years compared to metal halide's 3-4 years."

MEET IRAQ'S ONLY officially tolerated heavy metal band. According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, A. Crassicauda (the Latin designation for the black scorpion) is a five-man group that models itself on Slayer, Metallica, and Machine Head. Members learned the genre through pirated CDs and videos smuggled in from Turkey and Jordan. The frontman, "Bloodmaster" Walid, is the son of an Iraqi army officer.

Although A. Crassicauda sings in English, it reportedly sells out the concerts it stages at Baghdad's major venues. The second number at each show is an obligatory paean to the regime; the group speeds through it in two minutes. "By following the leader Saddam Hussein," it goes, "We will make them fall, we will drive them insane." When that's out of the way, the group starts doing songs ("Massacre," "Fade to Black") from a cautiously subversive repertoire.

Spiegel reporter Bernhard Zand offers this verse from the song "The Doll" as representative of the group's veiled meanings: "I guess it's time to change the actor / I guess it's time to close this chapter / I guess it's time to go to the top / I guess it's time to say stop." For the record, the group's members wisely deny that their material is political.

But then, as one of their own songs puts it, "To live, I have to lie."

Iraq's remaining literary establishment falls all over itself to praise Saddam's stupid novels; the country's leading singer of poetical verses, Kazem al-Saher, has exiled himself and toured the U.S. But there has yet been audible dissent in downtown Baghdad, and it's driven by a heavy metal beat. Perfect.

Metal accents are becoming a big standout in card making and scrapbooking. There is an incredible array of exciting techniques, from rustic to elegant, that are popping up everywhere in the industry. Luckily, there is now a wonderful assortment of crafting metals and meshes available at your local scrapbook, rubber-stamp and craft retailers. And the tools needed to work with these metals are basic craft tools you probably already own.

As you know, buying something never gives the pleasure that making something does. With that in mind, I hope you'll find these cards inspiring enough for you to give metal crafting a try.

INSTRUCTIONS

Basic Card Apply Brown pigment ink around the outside edges of each card. Set aside. To make the copper accents, trace a star, heart or hand pattern onto copper and cut out. Measure and cut out a 3/8" X 7/8" window from the center of each shape. Heat copper with a heat gun to change the color. Let cool. Using a Q-Tip, apply flux around the window opening and solder. Note: You can use a silver leafing pen to create a similar look as the solder. Add texture and design using leather stamps and a hammer. Use a paper towel to rub on black acrylic paint for a distressed look. Let dry. Position and glue eyes into place behind the windows in each of the copper shapes.

To assemble and make the front of the cards, cut the Briana, Ledger & Script paper 1/4-inch smaller in width and length than the pre-made greeting card. Since the cards 1 used were 4 1/4" X 5 1/2", I cut my ledger paper to 4" X 5 1/4".

TRU TEMP[R] metal finishing process eliminates hazards of boiling caustic soda tanks while producing black oxide finishes. It operates at 200[degrees]F and offers safe operation without EPA regulated metal content. Able to blacken iron and non-stainless steels without white salt leaching or off-color finishes, TRU TEMP process produces corrosion-resistant, .000020 in. thick satin magnetite black finish. Overall process time is ~20 min.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota: Metal finishers and manufacturers can now eliminate the hazards of boiling caustic soda tanks and produce high quality black oxide finishes with the patented TRU TEMP[R] metal finishing process. This new, low temperature black oxide process operates at only 200f F and offers safe operation and short process time - without EPA regulated metal content. The TRU TEMP process blackens all iron and non-stainless steels - even MIM parts - without white salt leaching or off-color finishes.

The TRU TEMP black finish is a durable, satin magnetite of .000020 inch (0.5 micron) thickness with excellent corrosion resistance. Overall process time is only about 20 minutes - about half the time required for conventional black oxide. Consequently, blackening line throughput is high and part movement can be streamlined to enhance Lean Manufacturing programs. An In-House TRU TEMP line is a safe and easy way to achieve a "same-day turnaround" capability to fill key customer orders without raising inventory levels.

The TRU TEMP black oxide finish satisfies Mil Spec DTL 13924D and AMS 2485. Because there is no EPA regulated metal content, the process rinse waters are generally sewerable without waste treatment (large process lines may require pH adjustment). Initial capital investment is low and chemical operating cost is only about 1-3 cents per pound of finished parts.

Existing black oxide lines can often be retro-fitted at low cost to convert to the TRU TEMP process. Pre-engineered turnkey process lines are available from BIRCHWOOD CASEY in various configurations that install in a day's time.

See www.birchwoodcasey.com/trutemp/ for full details. Or, send sample parts to BIRCHWOOD CASEY for FREE TRU TEMP processing and recommendations.

Picture a bunch of human-controlled cars (provided you're playing broadband) zipping around arenas, with gunfire, missiles and special attacks flying every which way.... It's fast and furious vehicular combat, the way it's meant to be played. No more cheatin' A.I., no more having to eliminate your drone opponents methodically, and no more lonely matches. Just keep your expectations low and take the game's name literally: This is little more than an online version of the PS2 title we played a year ago. TM:BO has a few minor additions, but none of the new stages or cars you'd want in a "sequel." But hey, this one's a freebie. Who am I to complain?

When you purchase Sony's Network Adapter for your PS2, you'll get a little something extra for free: a mail-in certificate that entitles you to a copy of this game. It's an online, multiplayer version of Twisted Metal: Black, one of the most popular PS2 games to date. All of the vehicles, weapons and levels of that game's addictive multiplayer modes are available for simultaneous, online fragging. Of course, the traditional deathmatch mode is the star attraction, but some new match types and crazy new power-ups flesh out the experience. If you're using a dial-up modem with your PS2, you'll only be able to engage in two-player matches, but if you're surfing the ether on broadband, prepare for eight-player mayhem.

The name of this game offers some real truth in advertising. It's not a sequel; it's an online-only version of last year's hit car-combat title. Nothing more, nothing less. The tight, responsive gameplay remains mercifully untouched, and the cool new Power Relics add a layer of strategy to the gameplay. Too bad some of the things from the original TM:B that could have used an update were left unfixed. Dark, dingy environments and drab color choices won't win the graphics any awards, and the whole insane, gothic theme seems really played out these days (Sweet Tooth's hipness wore off years ago). Some might also frown upon the lack of a full single-player mode. Realistically, though, it's hard to find fault with a game that's given away for free. It's a blast to play online, and you'll likely find yourself shooting missiles at your friends at 3 a.m. for months to come. We did run into some network-related problems, though. Occasionally, it was difficult for all of us to join a game, and a few times, the PS2 required a reboot after a nasty crash. Presumably, Sony will work out all of these issues by the time thousands of players clog the servers. Sadly, I wager that one of the technical glitches that plagued our games won't get fixed: Latency (lag between players) slows the game down sometimes, causing your enemies to vanish and reappear. Still, it's fast, fun, and most importantly, free.

Surprising noone who's followed the franchise's massive success in Japan, the Full Metal Alchemist comics and animation series will spawn another two videogame adaptations this year, Famitsu Weekly reports. Two new PlayStation 2 games based on the series are in the works -- a fighting game from Bandai, and a new action-RPG from Square Enix.

Square Enix's new game starts where its first -- already available in Japan, and due for release in North America next spring -- left off. Subtitled Aka Ki Elixir no Akuma (that's "Demon of the Red Soul Elixir" or somesuch), it has no official release date as yet, but whenever it arrives, it's to adopt a new cel-shaded visual style.

Meanwhile, Bandai's 3D tag-team fighter will be developed by Eighting, the team responsible for Hudson's Bloody Roar games and the GameCube fighters based on the Naruto franchise. It's subtitled Dream Carnival, and it's also release-dateless as yet.

Full Metal Alchemist, a fantasy adventure following the exploits of half-metallic wizard Edward Elric, is presently the most popular animated series in Japan, having swept the reader's poll in Animage magazine and spawned enough character merchandise to entomb some kind of fanboy Pharoah. American fans will be able to check it out this October, when a localized version is scheduled to appear on the Cartoon Network.