Two Poles 08 Steel Industry

Hot blooded first half year

      盈利大躍進

In the first half of this year,

In January 16th this year, China's largest

In a profitable situation, Wuhan Iron and steel has proposed a grand goal of sprint billion.

      盡管其他鋼鐵公司可能沒有武鋼那樣的好成績，但是，今年上半年，明確的是，鋼鐵行業形勢大好。有關數據顯示，2008年上半年，我國鋼鐵行業實現利潤982.46億元，月均163.74億元，總體保持盈利高水平。

      礦石價格飛漲

China's iron and steel enterprises' booming profits have been accompanied by the distress of happiness. China has been trying to gain the initiative to control international iron ore prices and control the soaring cost of raw materials. However, China's attempt failed.

      在2月中旬，日本新日鐵公司與巴西淡水河谷達成協議，鐵礦石協議價格比上年上漲65%。隨后，中國鋼鐵企業進行了些許抵抗，但沒有效果。不久之后，寶鋼就宣布，同淡水河谷達成協議，漲幅同前。至此，業內外人士均認為，全球鐵礦石談判將就此結束，因為按照國際慣例，只要三大鐵礦石供應方之一與全球最大型鋼鐵企業之一達成協議，其他供應商或鋼鐵企業都將遵守此協議。

However, something unexpected happened.

      傳統的鐵礦石價格談判機制就此瓦解。連續6年漲價之后，鐵礦石價格累積漲幅已超過200%，可是各大鐵礦石巨頭依然沒有滿足的樣子，他們都集體表示，2009年鐵礦石價格還將上漲，因為中國需求巨大，鐵礦石依然供不應求。

Cool the second half of the year

      全球裁員減產

Neither the iron and steel manufacturing industry nor the iron ore suppliers did not expect that in the second half of the year, the US financial crisis broke out and the global economy was plunged into recession. Due to the sharp decline in demand, hot steel was poured into the cool water by sudden ice water.

In December, Agneli, President of iron ore producer vale, called on the Brazil government to revise strict labour laws to reduce the cost of the company's layoffs and help them cope with the financial crisis better.

Not long ago, Vale said that in response to the financial crisis, it has laid off 1300 people worldwide and has arranged up to 5500 employees to take collective leave.

      與此同時，淡水河谷宣布減產鐵礦石3000萬噸，并減少在法國、挪威和印度尼西亞等國的生產。與淡水河谷的大幅度裁員相比，力拓的裁員幅度有過之而無不及。力拓聲稱，將裁員1.4萬人，資本投資減逾50%，并出售重要資產，力爭使明年的凈債務削減100億美元。

Pohang iron and Steel said that due to the global economic downturn and the low operating rate of downstream industries such as automotive appliances, in response to the reduction in steel demand and price declines, it decided to cut output by 200 thousand tons in December and reduce 370 thousand tons in January next year, the first time in the history of the company's reduction.

Earlier, the world's largest steel producer, Ansai Le Mittal, said it had laid off 9000 people worldwide, of which 6000 were European employees.

      金融危機加反傾銷

      中國的情況也好不到哪里去。我國鋼鐵生產在6月份達到最高峰，然后逐步下滑。其中11月粗鋼產量創下30個月來的新低。

The latest data show that in November, China's iron and steel enterprises fell into losses in the whole industry, with a loss of up to 12 billion 770 million yuan.

      進入12月，情況看起來略有好轉，主要表現在鋼材價格的大幅下跌之勢有所減緩，鐵礦石的價格也有所回升，鋼鐵生產大省河北的大中小鋼廠開始逐步恢復生產，而寶鋼最近也上調了明年2月份的鋼材價格。然而，業內人士表示，這只不過是反彈，鋼鐵企業的苦日子還會持續。中國鋼鐵企業一邊要和經濟形勢作斗爭，一邊還要受到國際社會的“反傾銷”大棒之苦。

      12月10日，印度商工部對中國等7國和地區的冷軋不銹鋼發起反傾銷調查，其目的很明確，在經濟危機之時，以此來保護國內鋼鐵企業。與此同時，歐盟決定對從中國、俄羅斯、白俄羅斯進口的焊管征收5年反傾銷稅，中國稅率高達90.6%，烏克蘭44.1%，白俄羅斯為38.1%，俄羅斯為20.5%。12月26日反傾銷稅率正式生效。

America's "anti-dumping" stick has never stopped for Chinese iron and steel enterprises.

In December 5th, the US Commerce Department ruled that the termination of the above anti-dumping duty order could lead to the continuation or reoccurrence of dumping.

Editor: vivi