Crude steel output for the first 10 months of the year totalled 427.29 million tonnes, which was up 3.9% from a year ago.

Steel products output for the month hit 42.93 million tonnes, down 12.4% compared with the same month in 2007. Steel production January-October totalled 487.91 million tonnes, which was 5.9% higher year-on-year.

In October 2008, China produced 67.85 million of iron ore, which was a 12.5% increase from the same month in 2007. The country's total iron ore output for January to October 2008 was 654.18 million tonnes, which was an increase of 18.8% year-on-year.

China produced 730,300 cars in October, edging down 0.7% from the same month in 2007, while it produced 8.22 million cars January-October, up 12.4% year-on-year.

According to traders, domestic prices for 99.5% grade antimony trioxide have largely declined only Rmb 20,000-21,000/tonne ($2,936-3,083/tonne), while the prices were Rmb 27,000-28,000/tonne ($3,964-4,111/tonne) early last week.

“We are now offering only slightly more than Rmb 20,000/tonne for our stocks,” said a Guangdong based smelter. The company has halted production early this month and will not recover production in the short term considering the poor demand. He revealed that the current prices are in fact less than the production cost and most antimony trioxide smelters are suffering great losses. More smelters have stopped production in the past week.

A Hunan based smelter revealed that some materials have been traded at only slightly higher than Rmb 19,000/tonne ($2,790/tonne). “I think prices will continue to go down slightly furthering the coming days, while scope will be small,” he noted.

Meanwhile, export prices for antimony trioxide have remained diving. The current prices are said to only $ 4,500-4,600/tonne FOB, in comparison with $ 4,900-5,000/tonne FOB seen at the start last week.

A Guangdong based trader confessed that the company has traded some materials at as low as $ 4,500/tonne FOB. “The purchases are quite slow and limited. That might further pull export prices down in the coming days,” said the source.

Another trade source reported that the weak demand in world market has even obliged many overseas producers to stop production for antimony trioxide. “The reduced supply will help prevent the prices from falling much further, but the market will have to stay at dull condition for quite a long time in line with the world economic crisis,” he commented.

Spot prices have fallen to €1,300-1,350 a tonne basis duty delivered paid, depending on tonnage, grade and delivery terms, and up to €1,400/tonne for prompt delivery.

European fourth quarter negotiations have been settled at around €1,600-1,650 a tonne, although only few deals done as some consumers had secured material in longer term settlements negotiated earlier this year.

“The knock-back from ArcelorMittal really worried the market and it may be that this latest drop in prices is just the tip of the iceberg, with heavier falls in the coming weeks,” one dealer said.

“If there’s no increase in buying interest then we expect prices top fall 20%.”

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel maker, has announced a temporary output cut of 35%, from an initial 15% cut, as it forecasts a weaker final quarter, and other domestic steel makers have moved similarly.

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However, the company recently dropped a bombshell to its ferro-alloys suppliers, informing them in a letter obtained by Metal-Pages that it was suspending ferro-alloys deliveries in the short term. ArcelorMittal last week told Metal-Pages it was “speaking with a number of our suppliers to realign some of our needs in the short term”.

Dealers said the move was unacceptable and one ferro-titanium supplier has moved to launch a legal challenge against ArcelorMittal.

"The ferro-alloys industry was supportive to ArclelorMittal when supplies were tight in recent peak production times, and contracts were never realigned on our part,” another dealer said.

“ArcelorMittal has banked the profits on that and now is throwing it back in our face.”

ArcelorMittal could not be reached for further comment, yet one line in the ArcelorMittal letter to its ferro-alloys suppliers may discourage further legal action, dealers said.

"As soon as we will have new requirements, we will privilege our supportive partners for any new business,” the letter said.

However, ferro-silicon prices in China, a big exporter, have fallen on weak demand and plentiful stocks in the past week, despite a floor selling price set up by a few major smelters.

Chinese export prices for standard 75% grade material are in a range of $ 1,250-1,300/tonne basis FOB, off $ 100 in the past week. The price of the bulk alloy peaked to a historical high of $ 2,300/tonne in June amid supply worries ahead of the Olympic Games.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) has mailed ballots to approximately 21,000 engineers and technical workers based at Boeing facilities in four states, the union said in an announcement posted to its web site.

It was not immediately clear when results of the vote would be known. The existing contract between Boeing and the SPEEA expires on December 1. The two sides reached a tentative agreement November 14 on two contracts -- one covering about 14,000 engineers and the other covering some 7,000 technical workers.

Negotiations were concluded in relatively short order. Main bargaining table talks began October 29 on the heels of Boeing’s tentative agreement with the union representing machinists at its US plants. That agreement, which took months to negotiate and was reached only after the machinists had been on strike for about seven weeks, has since been ratified.
 

Crude steel output fell 2.7%, from a year earlier, to 10.1 million tonnes in October as output of steel used in car sheet plunged, while demand from construction companies stayed stagnant, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Wednesday.

Nippon Steel, world's second-biggest steel maker, and world No.3 JFE Holdings said last month they planned 3-6% output cuts in the October-March second half, from the first half.

But Hajime Bada, president of JFE Steel Corp, recently said he expected a cut of at least 10% in car sheet steel output to be necessary in the second half.

Domestic prices for 99.65%min antimony metal have declined to Rmb 31,000-32,000/tonne ($4,552-4,698/tonne), compared with Rmb 35,800-36,800/tonne ($5,256-5,403/tonne) seen early last week.

“Some smelters in Lengshuijiang, that are legally producing antimony, reduced their offers to only Rmb 27,000/tonne ($3,964/tonne) duty unpaid at the beginning of this week, and fear a further decline in the coming days,” said a Hunan based smelter.  Most antimony smelters in Lenghsuijiang have been closed due to a lack of environmental protection facilities and having a production capacity of less than 5,000tpy.

A second Hunan based smelter reported that most smelters are now offering at Rmb 31,000-32,000/tonne, down by about Rmb 5,000/tonne from the prices seen early last week. “I’m afraid the weak demand will force smelters to reduce offers further in the coming weeks,” said the source.

Another major Hunan based smelter reported that the company has ceased quoting for their low bismuth material, since the current contractual prices are much less than their production cost of Rmb 35,000/tonne ($5,139/tonne). “We will keep watching the market for a while,” said an official at the company. He thought more small smelters will have to close during this period of economic crisis.

Meanwhile, export prices are said to have also fallen further to $ 5,700-5,900/tonne FOB, compared with $ 5,800-5,950/tonne FOB seen last week. Little business has been reported to have been concluded in the spot market.

“I’m afraid most overseas buyers will not buy until Chinese suppliers reduce export offers to much lower levels, as they are not eager to import material at all now due to the weak demand from end-users,” a trader in Guangdong commented.