News

As China's export market is running into rough weather due to weakening demand from US and European markets, the importance of boosting domestic demand is overwhelmingly manifested. It's high time for a batch of new fiscal and taxation policies.

Three engines imbalanced

Investment, consumption and exports are generally considered to be the three engines fuelling the economy. However, three factors have long been imbalanced.

Two of Hong Kong-listed Smart Union Group's factories in Guangdong closed their doors on October 15, leading to the loss of more than 6,000 jobs. Six days later, the Ministry of Finance raised the export rebate for toy manufacturers.

These two incidents are a clear indication of China's economic scenario: Struggling manufacturers and exporters, the loss of a large number of jobs, slowing economic growth and a prompt response from the government.

The United States has challenged China over its export restrictions on some raw materials, particularly those used to produce chemicals and metals, a U.S. document on the World Trade Organization (WTO) website shows.

The United States said Chinese duties on the materials had cut Chinese exports, pushing up prices abroad, but depressed prices at home through oversupply, giving Chinese processors using the materials an advantage over their foreign competitors.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the U.S. ITER Project Office, which is housed at ORNL, have developed a new cast stainless steel that is 70 percent stronger than comparable steels and is being evaluated for use in the huge shield modules required by the ITER fusion device.

Oct 23 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of announcements of output reductions made by steel companies in recent weeks:

Oct. 23 - Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's second-biggest steelmaker, is considering output cuts from November due to weakening demand. Steel orders fell 5.4 percent in August, the first year-on-year decline in 28 months.

Oct. 16 - India's Tata Steel (TISC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) said its Corus unit would cut crude steel production by up to 20 percent or 1 million tonnes over the next three months due to slowing demand.

(The following statement was released by the ratings agency)

Oct 23 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had revised its rating outlook on Tata Steel U.K. Ltd. (TSUK) to stable from positive. At the same time, Standard & Poor's affirmed the 'BB-' long-term and 'B' short-term corporate credit ratings on the company. We also affirmed the 'BB+' issue rating on senior secured notes totaling GBP3.67 billion issued by TSUK and its subsidiary Corus Nederland B.V. (not rated). The recovery rating is '1'.

By Alfred Cang

QINGDAO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - China's state-owned Hebei Iron and Steel Group is in early talks with Australian iron ore prospector Aurox Resources (AXO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to finance the Aurox's 6-million-tonne iron ore project, the Australian miner's managing director said on Thursday.

"We met with Hebei Iron and Steel's president yesterday," Charles Schaus told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference, but he declined to disclose more details because he said negotiations were at an early stage.

Japan’s JFE Holdings Inc., the world's third-largest steelmaker, has yet to decide on plans to build a blast-furnace factory in Southeast Asia to meet demand in the region.

Construction and other details haven't been worked out, the company said Tuesday in a statement, denying a Japanese newspaper report the mill would begin production as early as 2012.

PITTSBURGH -

Steel maker AK Steel Holding Corp. said Tuesday its third-quarter earnings jumped 74 percent as higher prices for the metal overcame weaker demand from the automotive, appliance and construction markets.

The West Chester, Ohio-based company earned $188.3 million, or $1.67 per share, in the quarter, compared with $108.4 million, or 97 cents a share, a year earlier.

According to Mr Xu Lejiang chairman of Baosteel at a recent meeting attended by China Business News, domestic steel price is diving markedly at the moment, therefore iron ore price increase request has lost ground adding that foreign ore miners may not justify any price hike given current slack steel market conditions.

Mr Xu told Vale's official that Brazilian ore mining titan Vale has been pushing for an additional 13% increase for Asian customers since last month. However, Chinese mills have firmly opposed the request, which is a wrong judgment made in a wrong timing.