The leading finish stainless steel producers have announced they are shutting down one of their  melt shops on a temporary basis . This is along with production at one of its Ferrochrome works, full details below “Outokumpu has concluded the statutory negotiations at Tornio Works in Finland. The negotiations result in temporary lay-offs for most of [...]

China plans to cap its crude steel output at 460 million tonnes in 2009 and at around 500 million tonnes in 2010 as it pushes the world's biggest steel industry to get into shape. The country also plans to close steelmaking capacity of 25 million tonnes and iron-making capacity of 72 million tonnes in the next three years, the country's top planning body said in a strategy plan on Monday. The plan was posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission www.ndrc.gov.cn Global demand for steel has slumped in the fallout from the economic crisis, forcing Chinese steel firms to seek shelter in construction projects backed by a $585 billion state stimulus package. But by doing so, they are putting themselves at the mercy of government ambitions for belt-tightening.

Outokumpu the Finish based stainless steel supplier have confirmed surcharges for delivery of materials in April 2009. Again they have fallen especially the 316 (1.4404) reflecting recent falls in Molybdenum. A snapshot is listed below

Molybdenum oxide and ferromolybdenum prices eased this week amid weak demand in Asia, Europe and North America and on signs that Chinese buying of oxide may be slowing. The volume of business reported by market participants was down substantially on recent weeks, largely because most of the molybdenum business to China is now being concluded directly between producers in the US and South America and not from European traders.

The Specialty Steel Industry of North America has released statistical data on imports, US consumption and import penetration for December 2008. The data represents US consumption, imports and import penetration for YTD December 2008 as compared to the same 2007 twelve month period. The following data is presented by specialty steel product line, total stainless steel and total specialty steel: 1. Stainless steel sheet/strip: Imports in YTD December 2008 were 441,313 tons, a 4.7% YoY increase as compared to YTD December 2007, US consumption was 1,245,825 tons, an 18.1% YoY decrease; twelve month import penetration was 35.4%, a 7.7 percentage point increase from 2007.