ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil - Competitors

ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil Competition

Now Viewing ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil's competition in: Primary Metals Manufacturing (primary)

Recent Developments

Steel, Raw Material Prices to Remain High - During the American Metal Market's Steel Success Strategies conference in June 2008, the CEOs of US Steel and Nucor said that high prices would persist for the foreseeable future. Nucor's CEO urged steel customers to adjust to higher prices due to high commodity prices for steel raw materials such as iron ore, scrap, pig iron, and coal. High prices for iron ore are being driven by growing worldwide demand and the mining industry struggling to keep up, according to US Steel's CEO. Iron ore producer prices rose 12.6 percent in May 2008 compared to a year earlier; iron and steel prices rose nearly 33 percent.

Steelmakers Consider Vertical Integration - Rising prices for iron ore and metallurgical coal are causing some steelmakers to consider a more vertical structure. Korean steelmaker POSCO has agreed to take a 10 percent stake in Australia's Macarthur Coal, the world's largest pulverized coal supplier. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is also interested in Macarthur Coal. The Financial Times reports that ArcelorMittal was possibly considering taking a stake in Australian mining concern Rio Tinto. US producer prices for coal increased nearly 12 percent in May 2008 compared to a year earlier.

US Pipe Industry Wins Tariff Battle - The ITC has ruled that Chinese imports of circular steel pipe into the US will be subject to penalty tariffs for the next five years. The ITC ruled that US steel pipe manufacturers are being hurt by Chinese pipe imports, and that the Chinese government is unfairly subsidizing China's steel pipe industry. Chinese exports of circular pipe totaled about 10,000 tons in 2002, and grew to 750,000 tons in 2007.

Competitive Landscape

Demand comes largely from the manufacturers of durable goods like motor vehicles, machinery, containers, and construction steel. The profitability of individual companies depends largely on efficient operations, because most products are commodities sold based on price. Big companies have large economies of scale in production. Accordingly, most producers of secondary products buy raw metal from the large producers. Small companies can compete by operating efficient local mini-mills or producing specialty products. The industry is highly automated: average annual revenue per worker is close to $300,000.

Full Industry Overview For Primary Metals Manufacturing

Primary Metals Manufacturing Industry Forecast

from Hoover's/D&B subsidiary First Research

The output of US primary ferrous and non-ferrous metals manufacturing is forecast to increase at an annual compounded rate of 2.3 percent between 2007 and 2012.

Primary Metals Production Growth Recovers

First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.