Cuts deepen as 2009 commodity bust grips

摘要

For the beleaguered coal industry the New Year has begun much as the old one ended - with more production cuts as shippers scramble to align output with a rapidly shrinking customer demand profile. The western 'festive season,' has provided little respite from the commodity meltdown, with a further litany of bad news, including: Government forecasts now indicate Japans steel output will suffer its biggest fall for 35 years for the first quarter of 2009. India's SAIL has told customers it is likely to take around 50 percent of contracted stems - or around 0.5mt - from its major customers in January.c