Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc, which makes steel products from recycled metals, said that its first -quarter loss narrowed, helped by higher volume from the Cash for Clunkers program.
The company said it lost $8.6 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30. that compared with a loss of $34 million, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier. Schnitzer said that excluding a $15 million loss from discontinued operations -- it sold an auto-parts business in October -- it would have earned 23 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.16 per share on the same basis a year ago. Revenue fell to $394.3 million from $526.6 million a year earlier.
The company said it narrowed its loss from a year ago thanks to better margins in the recycling business and higher metals volumes due to Cash for Clunkers, the government program that encouraged owners to trade in old vehicles.
Schnitzer said the steel manufacturing business continued to suffer from weak demand for steel products. The company expects finished steel sales volumes to fall 20 percent in the second quarter compared with the first, with negative margins.

France's basic steel product and ferroalloy exports amounted to a value of EUR 7.07 billion in the January to November period of 2009, down by 37.48 percent YoY, revealed the statistics released by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance & Industry,.
During the period, France exported EUR 1.79 billion of steel pipes and tubes, down by 32.78 percent YoY, EUR 194.26 million of cold rolled steel bars, down by 56.56 percent YoY, EUR 401.8 million of cold rolled steel strip, down by 44.64 percent YoY, EUR 213.87 million of cold drawn wire, down by 40.34 percent YoY, EUR 644.33 million of metal structures and parts, down by 15.77 percent YoY.
Meanwhile, in the first 11 months of 2009, France's basic steel product and ferroalloy imports totalled EUR 6.31 billion, down by 46.79 percent YoY.
During the period, France imported EUR 1.17 billion of steel pipes and tubes, down by 34.57 percent YoY, EUR 222.11 million of cold rolled steel bars, down by 53.36 percent YoY, EUR 397.67 million of cold rolled steel strip, down by 35.52 percent YoY, EUR 284.92 million of cold drawn wire, down by 44.17 percent YoY and EUR 1.01 billion of metal structures and parts, down by 26.77 percent YoY.

A Russian-led group has acquired a controlling stake in the big Ukraine steel group, Industrial Union of Donbass.
The group, led by Russian businessman Alexander Katunin, former owner of metals group Evrazholding and now co-owner of Swiss trader Carbofer, had taken 50 percent plus two shares in the Ukrainian group.
The remaining shares stayed in the hands of existing shareholders Serhiy Taruta and Oleg Mkrtchan, who would continue in executive roles. Investment company Troika Dialog acted as financial adviser in the deal and Russia's Vneshekonombank took part in financing.

Consol Energy Corp., the fourth- largest U.S. coal company, plans to ship 82,000 tons of the fuel to China through its venture with Xcoal. The company will deliver the metallurgical coal to coke plants in the Tianjin-Guafeng area of China, Pittsburgh-based Consol said.
Metallurgical coal is used to produce steel. Consol is shipping the coal from the Bailey mine in Pennsylvania through its Baltimore terminal and expects the coal to be loaded and en route to China via a Panamax vessel within the next couple of weeks, said Dan Zajdel. Last month, the company announced the partnership with Xcoal to market in Asia. U.S. producers have targeted the region as a source of demand. Peabody Energy Corp., the largest U.S. coal producer, in October opened an office in Jakarta. Arch Coal Inc., the second-largest coal company, said it shipped steam coal to China off the West Coast in September.

U.S. Steel Corp., the largest American producer of the metal, said it is seeking early imposition of duties on steel pipe from China after imports surged. Imports of seamless standard, line and pressure pipe from China more than tripled after antidumping cases were filed in September, U.S. Steel said.
The Department of Commerce is scheduled to make a preliminary determination in the cases on February 16. Because of the surge in imports since the cases were filed, U.S. Steel and other parties in the antidumping claims said they are asking for duties to be imposed under a critical circumstances allegation. That allows so-called remedial duties to be imposed as much as 90 days before the preliminary determination, when they would normally occur.
Erin DiPietro, a spokeswoman for Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, said she didn't have information on the value of the early duties the company is seeking. U.S. Steel in September asked the U.S. Commerce Department to impose dumping and anti-subsidy duties of as much as 90 percent on $400 million in imports of pipes used in chemical and petrochemical refineries. U.S. Steel was joined in that petition by the U.S. subsidiary of Vallourec SA, the world's second- largest maker of steel tubes for oil and gas production, the companies said at the time.