TPT July 2007

From the AmericaS

European segment jumped 65 per cent. In comparison with the same period of 2006, the steel maker said earnings grew to $273 million from $256 million; revenue increased to $3.76 billion, from $3.73 billion; and income from operations fell to $346 million, from $369 million. Elsewhere in steel . . . › On April 5 Canadian producer Stelco Inc announced the transfer of all hot strip processing to its Lake Erie mill. This followed completion of an expansion there that will raise annual capacity from 3 million tons of steel to 3.7 million tons. The $270 million modernization project has already raised production at Lake Erie, which reached a record of over 280,000 tons in March. Stelco’s next step will be the shutdown of the 56" hot strip mill at its Hamilton Steel plant, which has been operating since the 1940’s. The Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker is working to transform itself into a low- cost producer. › The United Steelworkers, based in Pittsburgh, announced April 18 that its membership was seeking a merger with two large British unions, Amicus and Transport & General Workers, in a move that would form the first transatlantic labour group. The three unions would merge within a year, with the combined union expected to have more than 2.6 million members. The president of the United Steelworkers, Leo W. Gerard, told a labor convention in Ottawa, “One of our tasks as trade unions is to defend working people and to advance workers’ conditions, but that’s increasingly difficult within the confines of national boundaries. It seems we’re no longer capable of fully confronting and negotiating with these global companies unless we ourselves are organised globally.” If its unsolicited $27 billion offer for its rival Alcan, of Canada, is successful, New York-based Alcoa Inc will have ended its brief tenure as the world’s No 2 aluminium maker. And it will probably have assured itself the top position in the industry for some time to come. On the basis of its 2006 results, the two companies in combination would have a value of $33 billion and sales of $54 billion. Between them, they produced 7.8 million metric tons of aluminium last year. The transaction will likely not move quickly. Any takeover by a foreign company would be politically sensitive in Canada, particularly in the province of Quebec where Alcan has its headquarters, in Montreal. Moreover the merger will almost certainly draw intense antitrust scrutiny. In the meantime, the US company has been busy on other fronts. Record aerospace industry demand and higher metal prices helped lift first-quarter profits at Alcoa by nearly 9 per cent. Net income grew to $662 million in the January-March period, highest in company history, compared with $608 million a year earlier. Revenue jumped 11 per cent to $7.9 billion, from $7.1 billion in first-quarter 2006, supported by higher metal prices and sales to the aerospace, industrial products, and building and construction markets. Aluminium Alcoa foresees years of growth for the industry

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J uly /A ugust 2007