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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2011
48
From the
americas
because they were unable to find more traditional work.
“Small business is of vital importance to the Canadian
economy,” said Derek Holt, vice-president of economics
for Scotiabank, in a note to clients. “But job creation
within this category in a soft spot for the economy is
always a knock against the quality of the headline gain.”
Still, Mr Beltrame observed, Canada is doing far better
in this area than its southern neighbour and biggest
trading partner. He wrote (11
th
June): “In the past year,
Canada has created 273,000 new jobs, most full time and
in the private sector, while the US has struggled to post
solid gains.”
Manufacturing
Factory activity continues to be a sweet
spot in the US economic recovery, but
commodity prices are a worry
At midyear, the rate of growth in US manufacturing was
helping to ease concerns that the nation’s economic
recovery would remain sluggish, and fuelling optimism that
the economic slowdown of the first half would be temporary.
In its latest available Report On Business, the Institute for
Supply Management (ISM) reported that economic activity
in the manufacturing sector expanded in June for the
23
rd
consecutive month.
According to data supplied to ISMby a 35,000-strong network
of supply executives, new orders and production were both
modestly up from May. The rate of increase in prices slowed
for the second consecutive month, and was at its lowest since
August 2010. Even so, and while the list of commodities up
in price had shortened, ISM said that “commodity and input
prices continue to be a concern across several industries.”
ISM grouped its information on commodities into these three
categories: (*Reported as both up and down in price)
❖
Commodities up in price: aluminium, castings, caustic
soda, copper,* copper-based products,* packaging
materials, plastic products, plastics, polyethylene,
polypropylene, resins, rubber products, steel,* steel
products, and titanium dioxide
❖
Commodities down in price: copper,* copper-based
products,* nickel, stainless steel and steel*
❖
Commodities in short supply: capacitors, electric/
electronic components, and rubber products
Anecdotal responses published 1
st
July by the Tempe,
Arizona-based ISM include the following:
❖
“We continue to see inflation, though at a reduced rate
[compared to] earlier months.” (Chemical products)
❖
“Slight slowdown in overall business in both domestic
and international markets, although still above 2010 at
the same date.” (Electrical equipment, appliances, and
components)
❖
“The earthquake and related issues in Japan have caused
shortages of some automotive equipment, negatively
impacting global automotive production.” (Fabricated
metal products)
❖
“Customers are still being cautious with their buying.
Certain plastics and metal prices continue to rise.”
(Machinery)
Metals
Thieves target Chicago, destroying
expensive air conditioners for their
copper content
An item in the pilot issue of our sister publication wiredInUSA
opened with the reminder that copper theft has always
been a problem, the red metal’s “value to marauders” of
the mid-1800s precluding its use in overhead telegraph
lines. Submarine cables are safe – protected by “the ocean
depths.” No such protection extends to air conditioners, and
this summer the a/c-equipped homes and businesses of
Chicago’s South Shore neighbourhood have been especially
hard-hit by plunderers.
Police say that the big units are ripped from windows and
pulled apart, their copper innards snipped out and sold for
cash. One resident, pointing out the remnants of several such
operations throughout the neighbourhood, told NBCchicago.
com, “They come between two and three in the morning, and
by 6 o’clock they’re at the junk yard selling the copper.”
(“ACs Busted, Stolen for Copper Inside: Police,” 28
th
June).
Proactive measures can add considerably to the cost of an
air conditioner. One theft victim told the TV station that he
paid $500 for a steel cage to enclose his replacement unit,
and had it bolted to the ground.
On 1
st
July, the
Chicago Tribune
carried news of one
especially callous attack: on the main air conditioning units
atop the Animal Welfare League intake centre, which houses
some 120 dogs and cats awaiting adoption. One unit was
destroyed completely, the other torn apart – wires cut and
the copper piping and coils taken. Large industrial fans had
to be brought in to keep the vulnerable animals alive in the
blistering heat of a Midwest summer. The estimated cost of
repairing the salvageable unit is $25,000, unaffordable by
the shelter.
❖
Because stolen or stripped commercial and residential
a/c units need to be replaced or repaired, heating and
cooling contractors and their suppliers obviously stand to
benefit from this source. But it would be difficult to find an
HVAC professional who welcomes business generated
from such depredations as that visited on the Animal
Welfare League of Chicago.
Elsewhere in metals . . .
❖
On an environmental note, the Ohio metals service centre
Olympic Steel Inc said on 15
th
June that it had installed a
$550,000 100kW wind turbine to supplement electricity
to the company’s corporate office and attached temper
mill facility in Bedford Heights. The unit is expected
to provide approximately 15% of the electric power
consumed at the location, with any excess directed to
the local energy grid. The gearless, direct-drive design
turbine, supplied by Wind Turbines of Ohio under a state-
supported programme of grants for renewable energy
initiatives, is mounted on a 120ft pole and features a 69ft
diameter rotor.
Dorothy Fabian – Features Editor