Steel PRNs: a problem or a crisis?

摘要

WHILE THE RECESSION HAS HAD A RELATIVELY SMALL IMPACT ON THE USE OF steel packaging - the obligation has only fallen 2.8 percent - it has had a disastrous impact on the global steel trade, with cars and construction, the primary consumers of steel, suffering major downturns. Despite governments striving to boost infrastructure spending, the benefits are taking time to translate to increased demand for scrap steel. In Britain, Corus's troubles are well documented, with the Teesside and Trostre plants on short working and the closure of Canroute. From a steel PRN perspective, production has fallen 35 percent year on year and 45 percent quarter on quarter. The latter may be deceptive since Q4 figures included a significant element of late-accepted 'broadly equivalent' export tonnage, so the real drop could be less.