News in Brief

ThyssenKrupp sees flat carbon steel demand rising in Q4
ThyssenKrupp AG expects demand for flat carbon steel to improve from around end-September this year compared with the July-September period this year, a company spokesman said.He said ThyssenKrupp has slightly cut the prices of its flat carbon steel for deliveries in the July to September quarter this year compared with previous quarter.

Norfolk event will air reasons for manufacturing job loss
As the U.S. continues to lose manufacturing jobs, leaders of one of the area’s most successful manufacturing plants are looking to do something about it.
Nucor Corporation is the second largest steel producer in the Western Hemisphere and tonight many of the 415 employees of the plant in Norfolk, Neb., are expected to hear Nucor president and CEO Dan DiMicco press for changes in trade policies to ensure a level playing field internationally. MORE

Steel Mill Fire
BLUESCOPE Steel’s hot strip mill at its Western Port operations in Victoria has stopped operating because of a fire.The nation’s largest steel maker said the fire occurred in the electrical control room of the hot strip mill – which provides feedstock for Western Port’s cold rolling, metallic coating and painting operations – on August 22.No other plant or equipment outside of the electrical control room sustained any damage.BlueScope said an initial assessment of the damage to the electrical systems and cabling in the electrical control room affected by the fire had now been completed.“Preliminary engineering estimates indicate that restoring the hot strip mill to normal operating levels could take in the order of 12 weeks,” it said. SOURCE

US Manufacturing
Change or die for steel unions Means looking outside the U.S.; Leaders trying to maintain cloutBy M.R. KropkoThe Associated PressCLEVELAND - When steelmaking was king in this city and others across the nation, labour unions were as strong as the metal their members made.With hundreds of thousands of members, the United Steelworkers of America and Independent Steelworkers Union held their own against multimillion-dollar companies.Today, when organized labour is shrinking with the steel industry, union workers are trying to figure out how they can remain influential in the United States and become a force internationally. The steel industry has emerged from tough times by consolidating, and businesses that survived are increasingly tied to foreign firms. MORE