US steel production fell 37 percent to 62.8 million tons last year and the industry ran at an average capacity utilization rate of 51 percent as the global recession cut demand for the metal used in cars, construction and appliances, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The Labor Department reported on February 5 that the nation's unemployment rate in January fell to 9.7 percent, from 10 percent the month before, as manufacturers hired more workers for the first time in three years. Revisions to previous data increased the number of jobs lost in the recession to 8.4 million.
DiMicco used Nucor's third-quarter earnings call in October to warn that the U.S. faces a 'jobs creation crisis.' Nucor said last month that fourth-quarter net income fell 44 percent from a year earlier to USD 58.9 million. It was the company's first profit after three straight losses, leaving Nucor with an annual net loss of USD 293.6 million, it's first since going public in 1972. US president Barak Obama has done 'some good things,' such as bringing trade cases against China. The U.S. imposed duties on steel-pipe imports from China in September. China's Ministry of Commerce has said it 'strongly opposes' those measures.

ArcelorMittal's planned iron-ore venture in Liberia and Guinea with BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, may produce as much as three times the volume that the steelmaker could on its own, reports said Joseph Mathews, chief executive officer of the Liberian unit as quoting.
The world's largest steelmaker will ship its first ore from Liberia in 2011 after slowing development last year due to the global slump. Its project, costing more than $1.5 billion to build, will produce 12 to 15 million tons from 2013. ArcelorMittal said last month it's in talks with BHP on combining iron ore mining interests in Liberia and Guinea. The steelmaker is seeking to secure supplies as the price of the raw material surges. The company may buy more mines this year, Bill Scotting, its strategy chief, said in December.
ArcelorMittal is redeveloping the Nimba mine after it was abandoned in 1992 as civil war engulfed Liberia, in west Africa. The mine is located in northwest Liberia on a finger of territory jutting into neighboring Guinea. Melbourne-based BHP controls the Nimba deposit across the border in Guinea. BHP's project may hold 600 million tons of iron ore and ArcelorMittal's 1.5 billion tones.

Rautaruukki Oyj, Finland's biggest producer of carbon steel, intends to expand to new locations this year as part of a wider effort to increase sales and the scalability of it existing businesses.
The company is planning three spots without identifying them it's Chief Executive Officer Sakari Tamminen said. The future will be based on sales, active behavior in the market. Rautaruukki has shed 2,300 jobs in the past year and closed production sites, reducing costs an annually by USD 124 million, to focus on product segments that can be replicated from one country to another, such as vehicle cabs for heavy equipment. Rautaruukki forecast recently that sales will rise 15 to 20 percent this year and that it will post a pretax profit as construction demand recovers in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Nordic region. Rautaruukki and Finnish rival Outokumpu Oyj saw profits evaporate in 2009 as the global slump sapped demand for steel and customers used up existing inventories.
“The worst is over and there are some signs of slight improvement,” Tamminen said. The company is now considering acquisitions and divestitures as part of this retooling of Rautaruukki. Purchases would be focused on medium-sized companies with sales of more than 150 million euros and which help boost the scalability of existing businesses. The company has not made any acquisitions in a couple of years because the valuations were not rational from an industry buyer's point of view and of course that has now changed. Rautaruukki has a 350 million-euro revolving line of credit that it could tap to make an acquisition.

OAO Severstal, Russia's largest steelmaker, expects to boost investment this year to USD 1.4 billion. The company planned to spend USD 1 billion last year. Severstal plans to issue USD 496.4 million worth of bonds in two separate issues to refinance debt and optimise its credit portfolio.
The two issues, of 5 billion roubles and 10 billion roubles, are scheduled to have a duration of three years. The bonds are expected to have an annual coupon of 10 to 15 percent. Citibank and Raiffeisenbank are organising the bond issues. The issues belong to the 45 billion roubles of bonds that Severstal announced in August, 2009 it planned to sell. Severstal is one of several Russia steel majors that spent heavily to make acquisitions and upgrade facilities prior to the downturn in 2008. As of end-September it had USD 7.88 billion of debt.

Russian steel and coking coal producer Mechel expects coal output to reach 28-29 million tons this year, returning to pre-crisis levels thanks to renewed demand. Steel production, however, is estimated to remain flat at about 6 million tons. In 2009, Mechel produced 10.24 million tons of coking coal and 7.54 million tons of steam coal. This year Mechel expects to produce about 18 million tons of coking coal. Coking coal prices have risen sharply in recent months. The company is in talks with Russian clients to raise its Kuzbass prices to USD 110-120 per tonne. It is currently exporting coking coal from Yakutugol in Russia's Sakha Republic to Asian buyers at USD 205 per ton.