Rebar Set for Weekly Decline as Iron Ore Falls to Five-Month Low

Steel reinforcement-bar futures headed for a weekly loss as the price of iron ore, the main ingredient in steelmaking, fell to the lowest in five months. Rebar for delivery in October on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as much as 0.6 percent to 3,529 ($575) a metric ton and was at 3,531 at 10:15 a.m. local time.

Futures have declined 3 percent this week, the most since the week ended April 19.

Ore with 62 percent iron content at the port of Tianjin fell 1.1 percent to $125 a dry ton yesterday, according to The Steel Index Ltd. “The view that iron ore prices will continue to decline is becoming more convincing, which leads to expectations for lower steel-products prices in the second half of 2013,” Zhang Lei, analyst at Nanhua Futures Co., said by phone from Shenyang today.

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Surging Chinese Steel Exports Put Pressure on World Prices

A surge in Chinese steel production and a flood of exports are pressuring world-wide steel prices despite Beijing’s efforts to rein in the steel industry, in the latest example of the global impact of China‘s massive industrial overcapacity.

Global steel prices have fallen 3.5% since February to an average of $710 a ton, according to MEPS steel consultancy. While China hasn’t been shipping much more directly to the U.S., much of its material is destined for the world’s largest economy via trans-shipments through Japan, South Korea, Singapore or Malaysia.

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A Supplier’s Advice for Purchasing Custom Tradeshow Exhibits & Environments

Dear Purchasing Professional,

We usually don’t get to speak with you directly when we respond to an RFP. But if we could, this is what we’d say.

We’d like you to know that to get the best value when buying custom tradeshow exhibits you need to take a slightly different purchasing approach. These products  require creative thinking (like advertising), and work best when uniquely crafted to fit your company’s needs.

Custom trade show exhibits are not one-size-fits-all. They differ from system or portable exhibits such as standard pop-up and tabletop exhibits. In a nutshell, they are properties created specifically for your company and should not be valued strictly on a basis of price.

“Will this design represent our company better and thus generate more leads, sales, and press coverage?” is what you really need to ask yourself. Read the rest of A Supplier’s Advice for Purchasing Custom Tradeshow Exhibits & Environments » » »

China’s runaway steel train

By rights, many companies should have closed. Instead, they march on like zombies, China’s industrial undead.
China simply makes too much steel. The government estimates that China’s annual production is about 100 million tonnes more than it should be, a figure equal to the whole annual output of the industry in the United States.

Worse, China has far too many steel companies, more than 700 at last count. Add in iron companies and companies that roll or otherwise shape steel, and the total comes to more than 7,000. Despite repeated government attempts to force them to consolidate into fewer, bigger companies, most of them are still small and inefficient.

via China’s runaway steel train on Propurchaser.

Corporate Social Responsibility in supply chains: an example of aluminum refining

Commodity production in many parts of the world causes huge problems for local communities. Extractive industries located in areas with poor environmental protection and enforcement can be particularly damaging.

For example this contentious aluminum refinery in Niyamgiri, India: The battle for Niyamgiri

Should purchasers have a role in influencing supply chains by avoiding companies with dubious social and environmental ethics? Would this be interfering with domestic governance and development, or does CSR (corporate social responsibility) pave the way for this type of decision? Are purchasers in a position to obtain and evaluate the information needed to make those decisions?

Base metals caught up in the turmoil

Industrial metals prices trading on the London Metal Exchange were shaken this week by an unexpected slowdown in Chinese growth, followed by gloomy indicators in the United States, which cast doubt on global growth strength.

Like oil and gold, base metals were taken Monday in a huge selloff movement affecting all commodities: speculative investors were rushing to withdraw from the market.

“The week started quietly in Asian trade … until China published macroeconomic statistics that totally reversed the trend“, said Edward Meir, analyst at broker INTL FCStone.

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The Carbon Benefits of Recycled Materials

The benefits of avoiding extraction and primary processing are usually significant, even when collection, transport and reprocessing of recycled material is taken into account.

An increasing range of recycled products are coming onto the market, such as glass, steel, aluminium, plastics and paper. Usually calculating the carbon benefit is reasonably straightforward. As the final products must perform to similar standards (whether from virgin or recycled materials) in order to compete in the market place, the carbon footprint during their ‘use phase’ will also be very similar.

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Greendex: Survey of Sustainable Consumption

If your business is expanding into new or facing competition in existing markets, can you benefit from enhancing your green credentials to meet consumer preferences?

Greening your supply chain could provide a competitive edge in markets where consumers are increasing concerned with environmental issues and making spending decisons based on those concerns.

Find what you can learn from the Greendex Survey.

Shale gas – Europe – The current situation

The energy revolution experienced by the United States for the past ten years will not come to Europe anytime soon. Members of the European Union are indeed very divided on the issue of the exploitation of non-conventional energy resources.

In November 2012, after 3 studies published earlier by the European Commission which concluded that Europe would not reach energy self-sufficiency, the European Parliament invited to comment on the development of shale gas, was unable to pass a binding resolution. In the end, the two resolutions adopted in Strasbourg just called for the Member States to exercise caution in this area because of environmental constraints.

A binding resolution encouraging to explore or exploit shale reserves would probably not have had a majority of votes because of many European MPs opposition, as risks associated with shale gas extraction are not perceived in the same way throughout Europe.

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Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain Report

The 2012-13 annual Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain report has been recently published. There is a glut of useful information within the 22 pages, and here are some of the highlights.

Firstly, the report concludes that climate change is creating very real supply chain risks, with 70% of respondents identifying at least one serious risk to their business due to the impacts of climate change. This makes sober reading where ever you are in the value chain of a product and emphasizes the need for a risk based approach to sustainable supply chains.

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