Price of Raw Materials

German steel maker ThyssenKrupp has reported a loss of 1.87 billion euros ($A3.08 billion) for the 2008-9 fiscal year.

The loss for the fiscal year that ended September 30 compared with a net profit of 2.3 billion euros the previous year for ThyssenKrupp, based in Duesseldorf.

The company said the drop was due to a number of restructuring charges and the impact of the global economic downturn on the steel industry. At the same time, the company faced construction costs for building up businesses in Alabama and Brazil.

Revenue fell 24 per cent to 40.5 billion euros ($A66.6 billion) from 53.4 billion euros in the previous fiscal year.

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Marble is a metamorphic rock resulting from regional or, rarely, contact metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks (either limestone or dolomite rock) or metamorphism of older marble. This metamorphic process causes a complete recrystallization of the original rock into an interlocking mosaic of calcite, aragonite and/or dolomite crystals. The temperatures and pressures necessary to form marble usually destroy any fossils and sedimentary textures present in the original rock.

Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of very pure limestones. The characteristic swirls and veins of many colored marble varieties are usually due to various mineral impurities such as clay, silt, sand, iron oxides, or chert which were originally present as grains or layers in the limestone. Green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally high magnesium limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure and heat of the metamorphism.

Coal prices shown are for a relatively high-Btu coal selected in each region, for delivery in the “prompt quarter.” The prompt quarter is the quarter following the current quarter. For example, from January through March, the 2nd quarter is the prompt quarter. Starting on April 1, July through September define the prompt quarter.

Source: With permission, selected from listed prices in Platts Coal Outlook, “Weekly Price Survey.”

Prices may advance to $7,333 a ton in December, technical analysts at Barclays Capital said in a report dated yesterday. By looking at technical charts, copper will get “strong support” at $6,730 and in the medium term the “bull trend” remains intact with prices potentially rising as much as $7,630, the report said.

Inventories of copper in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange rose 0.1 percent to 432,075 metric tons, the highest since April 23. The U.S. Dollar Index of the greenback against six currencies gained as much as 0.6 percent, making dollar-priced metals more expensive to holders of other monies.

Aluminum fell 0.3 percent to $2,040 a ton, and zinc shed 1.4 percent to $2,275 a ton. Nickel dropped 1 percent to $16,832 a ton and lead fell 0.8 percent to $2,372 a ton.

November 23 MetalBiz–China’s mills have announced flat steel prices for January. Averagely, the HRC export price went up by U.S.$10~20 per ton.

Besides, CRC price difference was quite big. The first-tier mill announced the CRC base price is about U.S.$710 per ton, but the second-tier mill quotes the same product at only U.S.$610 per ton. Prices will be depending on different steel grade and order quantity.

CGI base price also increased slightly in line with higher carbon steel price.

Stock market analysts have maintained ‘buy’ rating ( cement ) on ACC Ltd with an intraday target of Rs 782.According to them, interested traders can purchase the stock above RS 776 with a strict stop loss of Rs 768.If the stock markets remain on the positive path then the stock price will hit a target above Rs 790.

Shares of the company, on Friday (Nov 20), closed at Rs 966.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 920 and a low of Rs 383.20 on BSE.Current EPS & P/E ratio of the stock stood at 86.65 & 8.96 respectively.