The Metal Industry Indicators (MII) is a monthly newsletter that analyzes and forecasts the economic health of five metal industries: primary metals, steel, copper, primary aluminum, and aluminum mill products. Composite leading and coincident indexes were developed under a cooperative agreement with the former Center for International Business Cycle Research (CIBCR) at Columbia University. The composite leading and coincident indexes are constructed with a set of indicators that historically have proven to lead or coincide with the major changes in these industries. Each month, these indexes are analyzed along with any economy-wide occurrences that would affect the metals industries. To view or print a document in PDF format, download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Historical data for the MII indexes are usually updated the third Friday of each month.

SUAL Group proposes to build an aluminium plant worth $1.5bn in Kazakhstan, SUAL’s Senior Vice President for Business Development Artyom Volynets told a press conference in Kazakhstan. He added that the feasibility study for the plant will be designed in 2007, and if it is completed successfully, construction will be launched in 2008. In this case, production will start in 2010. The plant’s capacity is put at 500,000 tons.

Furthermore, SUAL and Kazakhstani electric energy supplier Nurenergoservice have signed a memorandum on understanding with regard to long-term energy supply to the plant. The electricity price will be pegged to the aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange.

Rapid release of production capacity of alumina is pulling down the prices of home-produced as well as imported alumina.

According to Customs’ statistics, the average import price of alumina was US$366.3/ton in the first ten months of this year, down 10.8 per cent year on year.

In response, Chalco is not optimistic about alumina prices for 2007 and does not rule out the possibility of further lowering alumina prices.

Rapid development of electrolytic aluminium in recent years has boosted investment in the sector, resulting in rapid expansion of the production capacity.

Experts estimate that China’s alumina output may have exceeded 15 million tons in 2006, up over 80 per cent from 2005.

As of November 1, 2006, China has lowered the import tariff on alumina from 5.5 per cent to 3 per cent, which has to certain extent lowered the import cost of alumina.

As most of Chinese alumina enterprises are small scaled and backward in production techniques, their production cost is over 50 per cent higher than the world’s average level.

Import surge due to lowering of import cost will aggravate price competition Chinese alumina producers face.

Meanwhile, expansion of alumina production capacity has made the situation of short supply of bauxite resources worse.

Emanuel (Manny) Bodner, president of Bodner Metal & Iron Corp., Houston, was presented with the 2003 Environmental Professional of the Year Award by the City of Houston and the Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association (OCEESA).

The award was presented to the processor and supplier of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal "in recognition of his leadership and contributions in recycling," according to a news release issued by Bodner Metal & Iron Corp. Bodner received the award at the OCEESA's first annual Environmental Summit, held in the fall of 2003 in Houston.

In addition to his role as company president, Bodner is chair of the Operations Committee of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI); a member of the ISRI Board of Directors; and vice president of the ISRI Gulf Coast Chapter.

Bodner is also a former board member of the Texas Rehabilitation Commission and a past chair of the Texas State Board of Physician Assistant Examiners.

Safeline recently introduced a range of metal detection systems that meet the latest 3A Dairy Sanitary Standards and USDA requirements. Additionally. Safeline manufactures its metal detection systems to meet HACCP and FDA requirements as well as exceed NEMA 4X/IP66 washdown specifications. Available as options on all its field-proven conveyorized metal detectors and pipeline systems, Safeline meets or exceeds the most stringent sanitary demands of dairy, meat and other food processing industries while supplying solutions that minimize metal contamination in packaged or loose products. With stainless steel construction, continuously welded joints free of imperfections, the system design meets requirements for sanitary product contact surfaces as well as exceeds the criteria for a variety of additional sanitary standards. The Safeline Extreme detector enclosure is built to withstand repeated high temperature, high pressure washdown. All Safeline metal detectors offer advanced, microprocessor-based technology that incorporates digital-signal processing. The metal detectors all feature an automatic set-up that adjusts to optimum performance by simply passing a few sample products down the line.

NEW YORK -- International Metal Enterprises Inc. plans to acquire Globe Metallurgical Inc. for about $78 million in cash and stock, the company said Friday. The acquisition, which hinges on shareholder approval, appears to be a move toward the financial restructuring of International Metal, market sources said.

Beverly, Ohio,-based Globe would be purchased for more than 8 million International Metal shares and $32.9 million in cash.

International Metal also announced its pending purchase of Argentina's Stein Ferroaleaciones SA and its associate companies, UltraCore Corp., Chicago, and UltraCore Polska in Poland.

Both transactions will be completed for about $166.2 million by October. "Both of the businesses to be acquired are operators in the specialty metals industry, with partially overlapping product lines and customer bases and using similar manufacturing technologies," the company said.

The company will take on about $50.5 million in debt to help finance the two acquisitions.
New York-based Marco International Inc. paid more than $23 million in January 2003 for Globe's assets. Globe entered Chapter 11 protection from creditors in April 2003. The company exited bankruptcy in May 2004 on a $16-million loan from Belgium's Fortis Bank and MI Capital Corp. In October 2005, Kestenbaum started International Metal, a "special-purpose acquisition corporation" with a plan to raise $200 million for new acquisitions in the metal sector.

Used for weather protection or air pollution control wherever covered conveyor systems are required, self-supporting covers can be crimp-curved into 180[degrees] clearspans as well as other desired radii and angles of curvature. Products are created from choice of ~50 different exposed fastener panels and have unfinished galvanized steel substrate. Based on 100 mph wind factor, single 24-gauge, Grade D (50 ksi) steel panel can be curved to form spans from 6 ft 1 in. to 11 ft 9 in.

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Ontario, Calif., June 2006 - Curveline, Inc., which has a patented method for "crimp-curving" of metal building panels, now offers custom fabrication of metal panel conveyor covers in an expanded choice of panels. The Curveline process turns standard metal building panels into highly rigid, self-supporting covers that may be used wherever covered conveyor systems are required for weather protection or air pollution control.

Curveline can create customized covers from a choice of approximately 50 different exposed fastener panels available from leading panel manufacturers around the country. The company recommends a minimum of 24-gauge steel in 7/8" to 1-1/2" panel depths for most curved cover applications, although additional gauges and depths may be used depending on radius and span. Unfinished galvanized steel is the most common substrate, but pre-painted panels in virtually any color may be specified where aesthetics are of concern.

Crimp-curved into 180-degree clearspans, the covers are strong and self-supporting, eliminating the need for structural framing. In addition to 180-degree applications, Curveline can curve panels into any desired radii and angles of curvature using chord width and height dimensions provided by the customer.

Based on a 100-mph wind factor, a single 24-gauge, Grade D (50 ksi) steel panel can be curved to form spans ranging from 6-ft. 1" up to 11-ft. 9", depending on the profile chosen. With an 80-mph wind factor, the clearspan range is 7-ft. 6" to 14-ft. 8".

Passengers on flights from Britain will be able to dine with metal cutlery again from Monday (25 April) as anti-terrorism laws are relaxed.

The UK government banned sharp metal objects after the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the US, which meant plastic knives and forks for all inflight meals.

Beginning on Monday (25 April) passengers flying from British airports will be able to carry on board knitting needles and scissors with blades shorter than 3 cm, while airlines will be able to provide metal cutlery. Other items, for example penknives, remain banned, reported Reuters.

Designed for plastics industry applications with limited headroom, low-profile Machine-Mounted Separators (MMS) detect and reject all types of conductive metal contaminants down to 0.5 mm. They incorporate pneumatically driven slide gate combined with venturi-driven vacuum rejection mechanism. Installed at infeed of extrusion, injection, and blow molding machines, these triple-coil metal detectors suit choke feed applications on gravity systems.

NEWTON, KS - Low-profile Machine-Mounted Separators (MMS), by Bunting Magnetics Co., are engineered to detect and reject all types of metal contaminants, but fit where headroom is limited. The electronic metal detectors, which are designed for the plastics industry, can be installed directly at the infeed of extrusion, injection, and blow molding machines. Their compact, cube shape ensures versatility, while their sturdy construction is designed to support the weight of hoppers, conveying components, mixers, and other equipment. MMS units are designed for "choke feed" applications on gravity systems.

Bunting Machine-Mounted All-Metal Separators are highly sensitive, triple-coil metal detectors engineered to sense and remove both ferrous and nonferrous metals - including iron, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass, lead, and tin - from moving virgin and regrind material. Units react to all conductive metals and reject contaminants as small as 0.5 mm. Unlike some competitive units that have a blind-spot during their rejection phase that allows contaminants to slip past, the Bunting Machine-Mounted All-Metal Separator features a fast pneumatically driven slide gate combined with a venturi-driven vacuum rejection mechanism. This unique design results in highly accurate detection and rejection. By helping to prevent metal scrap from entering processing machines and contaminating final product, these separators reduce costly machine damage and downtime and increase overall production efficiency.

London Metal Exchange base metals fell Friday on general profit-taking and liquidation of long positions, with some market participants saying the downtrend may continue into next week.

“I think we saw a continuation of long liquidation with little trade buying interest to get in the way of it,” said a base metals trader. “Overall, the rallies that we have seen have been short and sharp but do not last very long so I don’t see any reason why the general downward trend will not continue next week,” the trader added.

Three-month copper prices fell roughly 2% on the back of long liquidation, ending its recent rally. Three-month aluminium also cut short its recent rally to finish at a PM kerb of $2,695 a metric ton, over 1% lower from Thursday.

LME tin prices fell on news that eight of the more than 20 Indonesian smelters shut down in October will be relicensed, said Barclays Capital. But, the re-licensing only applies to eight of the smelters which were in operation up to last October and the timing of the reopening is unclear, Barclays added. Barclays forecasts a small deficit of 3,000 tons for tin in 2007.

Meanwhile, three-month nickel gave up earlier gains on long liquidation. However, analysts said the metal should remain well supported over the longer-term due to tight supplies.

LME uncut cathode nickel stocks have dropped by 2,000 tons to 318 tons from 2,300 tons on Jan. 2, pushing premiums on the product up by $50 to $100 in just a week, a base metals analyst said. The tight nickel situation explains the increase in nickel’s cash-to-three-month backwardation this week, the analyst added. LME stocks fell 384 tons to 5,916 tons Friday, with canceled warrants at 29% of total stocks.

Alongside nickel, zinc prices also fell roughly 2% from Thursday to a PM kerb of $3,770/ton.

Trading in both nickel and zinc has been extremely volatile this week due in part to the rebalancing of the Dow Jones-AIG commodity index fund. The rebalancing will be fully implemented Jan. 16.

Rebalancing and reweighting means that, in general, the index may reallocate out of commodities that have appreciated in value and into commodities that have underperformed.