EoW January 2012

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EuroWire – January 2012 34
Transatlantic cable
agency, manufacturing is helping to pull the 18 counties of the
region out of the US recession faster than in most of the rest of
the state and nationwide. The study found that employment
in the region grew by 1.5 per cent to that point in the year.
Meanwhile, unemployment fell to 8.5 per cent, below both the
statewide rate of 8.8 per cent and the national rate of 9.1 per
cent. Jacob Duritsky, director of business attraction at Team
NEO, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that, while the region
saw employment increase by 1.2 per cent from the second to
third quarter of 2011, much of that increase could have been
a seasonal hiring spike. He saw a stronger barometer in the
year-over-year increase of 30,000 jobs. About 8,000 of those
jobs were in manufacturing: a “Cleveland-Akron-Youngstown
tradition,” in Mr Duritsky’s view, that now accounts for 18 per
cent of the regional economy.
The Plain Dealer ’s Robert L Smith reported that Mr Duritsky
believes the numbers were likely buoyed by new steel jobs in
Lorain and Youngstown and by busy production lines at General
Motors plants in Lordstown. But the Team NEO director credits
“new manufacturing savvy,” as well, according to Mr Smith.
(“Northeast Ohio Is Manufacturing Its Way Out of the Great
Recession,” 14th November). Mr Smith continued: “The regional
economy is being strengthened by companies that successfully
transitioned from traditional to advanced manufacturing, a
trend represented by venerable employers like GrafTech [carbon
and graphite products] and Astro Manufacturing [wire EDM],
Team NEO contends. Meanwhile, innovative companies like
Lubrizol have made the region a national leader in specialty
chemicals.”
† That is not to say that the good times have returned to
Northeast Ohio. As noted by the Plain Dealer, Team NEO’s
broad view of Greater Cleveland does not re ect the
experience of every community. About two weeks earlier,
the US Labor Department released statistics showing zero
job growth in the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor metro area in
the year to 30th September 2011. Still, Mr Smith observed,
Northeast Ohio competes as a region, and Team NEO found
that the region has added 40,000 jobs since the bottom of
the recession in 2009. Some observers – like Edward Hill,
a professor of economics and the dean of the College of
Urban A airs at Cleveland State University – see a section of
the country poised to rise with the times. Observing that a
region that manufactures is a region that exports, he cited a
trend that is making American products cheaper overseas.
“The declining dollar [is] great for parts of the country that
make stu ,” said Mr Hill.
Steel
The London Metal Exchange requires more
storage space in the US, to the bene t of
Charleston and New Orleans
A top o cial at the London Metal Exchange said in November
that the exchange was working on plans to expand its US
warehouse locations to Charleston, South Carolina. This newest
American outpost for the exchange – of a total of 13 worldwide
– would likely house raw steel made at a Nucor Inc mill in
Darlington, also in South Carolina. The LME’s other US facilities
for storing and distributing steel billet are in Chicago, Detroit
and New Orleans. Chris Evans, head of business development
for the LME, told Reuters: “The Southeast of the states is very
important for the steel market in the USA and we need to be
part of that.” As reported by John McDermott in the Charleston
Post and Courier (10th November), Charleston can be viewed
as an ideal location for a Southeast distribution point because
of the number of steel makers that already operate near the
port. Dallas-based Commercial Metals Co – one of three US
companies that make billet approved for LME-bonded storage
warehouses – has a mill in nearby Cayce. While declining to
comment on the LME initiative, the South Carolina State Ports
Authority con rmed the hospitality of its ports to such bulky,
non-containerised cargo as long, rectangular bars of raw steel.
SPA spokesman Byron Miller told the Post and Courier: “We’re
dedicated to this business and aim to see it grow.”
† Another interested party in the Southeast is Louisiana,
whose own Port of South Louisiana already handles the
largest tonnage of shipping of all US ports. And matters of
metal storage are attracting attention in New Orleans, still
struggling in the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane
Katrina of 2005. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported
that the current interest is traceable to a programme begun
in 1998, when the city became one of a limited number
around the world to be designated by the LME to keep
metals until manufacturers are ready to receive them. Now
there are 53 New Orleans-area warehouses holding LME
certi cation, and stockpile accumulation in structures that
had stood empty for years has touched o a scramble for
specialised warehouses throughout the metro area.
Rebecca Mowbray wrote: “New Orleans is the second-largest
London Metal Exchange site in the country behind Detroit,
according to the exchange, and has more copper, zinc, and
steel in storage than any other place,” in the United States.
(“Local Warehouse Space Is Bursting with Stored Metals,”
13th November). Ms Mowbray added that, according to port
o cials, this has been excellent for the Port of New Orleans
because demand for metals storage climbs when the
economy is slow and imports of other goods fall o . “We’re
probably close to 98 per cent occupancy, which is the best
ever,” Kevin Kelly, owner of Port Cargo Service, a local metals
warehousing business, told the newspaper. “I’m considering
buying property and building warehouses if I can nd good
land to build on.”
Elsewhere in steel . . .
† AK Steel (West Chester, Ohio) raised its prices for at-rolled
stainless steel products in the 200, 300 and 400 series,
e ective 1st January. The producer of at-rolled carbon,
stainless, and electrical steels said the increase would be
achieved through a reduction of four percentage points in
the discount for cold-rolled and hot-rolled product. Andrea
Brown of Platts reported (17th November) that AK’s base
prices on automotive exhaust grades and bright anneal
nishes would increase by 8 cents per pound. All raw
material surcharges for stainless steel products, including
those for materials under 0.015" thick, will remain in e ect.
† Also on 17th November, Steel Business Brie ng reported
that US spot prices for wire rod had declined $20 per ton
month-on-month as domestic rod mills reacted to a further
decrease in the price of scrap. Spot prices for mesh quality
rod dropped to $720-740 per ton.
Surveys
A good place for a going business,
the US is less hospitable to new enterprises
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