TPT September 2008

From the AmericaS

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fair value. The case opens a new avenue whereby American manufacturers may seek protection against Chinese imports by claiming that the Chinese government is unfairly subsidizing its companies. Elsewhere in steel . . . › On 17 July, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc said that it had agreed to buy the coal producer Alpha Natural Resources, for nearly $10 billion in cash and stock, to bolster its position as a supplier to the global steel industry. The combined company, Cliffs Natural Resources, will own nine iron ore facilities and more than 60 coal mines in North and South America and Australia. As one of the largest US mining companies, it will also be positioned as a leading diversified natural resources company. Days earlier, Cleveland-Cliffs announced that – having acquired the 30 per cent stake of its joint-venture partner United Mining Co Ltd – it is now full owner of the United Taconite iron ore mining and pelletizing operation in Eveleth, Minnesota. The $100 million deal obliges the Cleveland, Ohio-based producer of beneficiated iron ore pellets to provide United Mining with 1.2 million tons of pellets over the next five quarters, cost-free. United Mining is a subsidiary of the Chinese steel maker Laiwu. Automotive Toyota, forced to cut back in the US market, pushes a winner: the Prius Shrinking demand for large vehicles in the US, where soaring fuel prices are carving out a vastly changed auto market, is forcing even mighty Toyota Motor into moves that would have seemed inconceivable this time last year. Toyota stopped building its two biggest models, the Tundra pickup and the Sequoia sports utility vehicle, for the period August through September. Next spring, it will permanently halt production of the Tundra at one of the two plants that make it. It is not uncommon for US automakers to shut down factories for some weeks or even months, usually to shave inventories of slower-selling vehicles. But it is a highly unusual move for Toyota. The Japanese company introduced the Tundra only in early 2007 as its first serious entry into the full-size truck market, and built a factory in San Antonio, Texas, specifically to produce it. But Toyota is nimble for a giant. The shutdowns will also affect a Tundra plant in Princeton, Indiana, and a plant in Huntsville, Alabama, that makes engines for both cars. Toyota will consolidate Tundra production in San Antonio and move other production to Princeton instead of Mississippi, as originally intended. On July 11, Toyota announced a related adaptive move. Starting in 2010 it will build its popular Prius in the United States for the first time. The gas-electric hybrid sedan, which saves fuel by capturing energy lost during braking to power an electric motor, will be made at the factory under construction in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Toyota said shifting production to Blue Springs will help ease acute shortages of the Prius, which gets an average of 46 miles a gallon. US sales declined 33.7 per cent over the six months through June,

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