Police in north-east England have arrested thirty-six people as part of a campaign against metal thefts.

During the raids, 10 scrap yards were closed down and large quantities of money seized as police raided metal yards suspected of large-scale money laundering and of breaching legislation on Wednesday.

About 80 officers and colleagues from British Transport Police, as well as other agencies,conducted the raids which targeted dealers who had failed to co-operate voluntarily with ‘Operation Tornado,’ which strengthens the requirement for sellers of metals to scrap yards to provide identification.

The British Transport Police said that, to make it harder for stolen metal to be sold, police were targeting dealers who wilfully flout the law for their own gain.

The multi-force operation targeted those scrap metal dealers who are suspected of profiting from proceeds of metal theft and money laundering, it added.

A boost in China’s economic growth has taken copper prices to a four month high.

China, the largest consumer of industrial metals, reported a growth of 8.9 per cent in fourth-quarter gross domestic product grew in the three months to December. The figure was higher than consensus estimates of about 8.6 per cent

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was bid up more than one per cent at $US8,360 a tonne at 1523 at the kerb close from $US8,235 on Wednesday. Earlier in the session, the metal used in power and construction reached its highest level since September 20 at $US8,410 a tonne.

The price of lead on the LME rose 3.8 per cent to $2,105 a tonne. In 2011, the price of the metal, used mainly in batteries, was hit by production problems at Japanese carmakers as well as increased output in China.

Citing “uninspiring” prospects and a stronger dollar, global financial services firm, Morgan Stanley, has cut price forecasts for most metals and minerals for this year.

The US-based firm has predicted that although Gold and silver prices will go high in 2012, they will be more moderate than previously anticipated. It added that prices of base metals and bulk commodities such as iron ore will fall marginally before recovering again in 2013.

“Our bear-case scenario for 2012 and 2013 in particular reflects the downside risks in base metals and bulk commodities from this major growth risk,” the firm said.

“In general, we are negative on the metals with sizable surpluses such as aluminum, nickel, lead and zinc,” the report said. However, the firm said it remained positive on copper, which it said was “supported by low inventories, high levels of supply disruption and a restocking cycle in China,” it added.

Despite remaining a “favored base metal,” copper could average $3.70 a pound in 2012, down from $4.01 a pound in 2011 as well as an earlier 2012 forecast of $3.80 a pound. A strong U.S. dollar and weak euro are negative for commodities in general, the house said.

Among other metals, aluminum could average $1.02 a pound, down from $1.05 a pound forecast earlier and $1.10 a pound in 2011 while nickel could average $9 a pound, down from $10 a pound forecast earlier and $10.40 a pound in 2011, it said in the report.

Gold, however, could average $1,845 a troy ounce in 2012, rising 19% from $1,546 an ounce in 2011, although that is lower than an earlier 2012 forecast of $2,200 an ounce. The more moderate expectation reflects the impact of an anticipated strengthening of the U.S. dollar, Morgan Stanley said.

“We still anticipate significant annual increases in gold and silver prices in 2012 from strong investment demand,” as the safe-haven appeal is expected to continue despite a strengthening dollar, it said.

Russian metal company,Norilsk Nickel, has said it is planning to reduce production in 2012 to adapt to a slight fall in global metals demand,

In an interview to a Russian TV channel, the CEO of Norilsk Nickel,the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, has said that it also expects to report a net profit of around $5 billion in 2011

“Copper prices are holding up, nickel is much worse but not at critical levels,” the CEO said .

“Unfortunately for us there will be a slight reduction in metals production in the coming year, but our investment programme is to restore production in coming years and then increase it,” he added.

As metal prices tend to fall due to weakining industrial and manufacturing demand, mining companies are heavily exposed to a slowdown in global economic growth.

With US$20.427 billion exports in 2011, Taiwan’s machine industry has made among the list of the country’s top-five export industries .

The machine industry has replaced sectors like information communication technology (ICT), iron and steel to secure a place in the top-five export sectors.

Export value for the ICT and iron and steel industries came to US$19.8 billion and US$19 billion, respectively in 2011. Taiwan’s top-five export industries, in descending order, were electronics, petrochemical, plastic products, optical and medical health, and machinery in 2011.

Thanks to the effects of the cross-Taiwan Strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), C.C. Wang, president of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), predicted domestic machinery industry will see a 10% annual growth in either production or export value and become the island’s third industry in 2012, with annual production value reaching over NT$1 trillion, only behind semiconductor and TFT-LCD (thin film transistor-liquid crystal display) sectors.

According to customs-cleared statistics compiled by the TAMI, Taiwan exported NT$51 billion worth of machinery in December 2011, up 4.3% from the preceding month and up 7.6% year-on-year.

India’s machine tool industry has sought a ‘Machine Tool Technology Development Fund’ with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore from the country’s central government.

Vikram Sirur, president, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association, said that in order to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent in the next five years, the Indian machine tool industry needed to create new capacities and that requires high technology. Indian machine tool makers lack the technology to improve their product portfolio, and to get technology need to tie up with overseas companies. Sirur said.

He said, the key enabler for achieving the desired growth rate is to set up a technology development fund to support product development. The machine tool industry in India was overburdened with high interest rates, making it difficult to borrow funds from the banking sector to expand capacities. Unlike China where the interest rates are in the range of 2-3 per cent, Indian industry has to pay more than 14 per cent which makes it unviable, Sirur said.

During 2010-11, the Indian machine tool industry saw a turnover of Rs 11,650 crore with the domestic production of Rs 4,096 crore. For 2011-12, it is expected to grow 10-15 per cent. For 2012-13, the IMTMA has estimated the industry to see a turnover of Rs 13,500 crore. Shailesh Sheth, media chairman, IMTMA, said IMTMA is organising the second edition of IMTEX Forming, an international exhibition on machine forming in Bangalore from January 19 to January 24 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC). Touted as the biggest b2b exhibition, IMTEX Forming will have 450 international exhibitors from China, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, UK and USA among others.

A leading metal company in the US, Alcoa Inc., has said it will
cut down its global aluminum smelting capacity by 12 per cent.

Like other metals companies, Alcoa,too, has been hit with higher
raw material and input costs such as energy, which the company
said it must get under control.

With metal prices plummeting, the largest US aluminum
maker,Alcoa, says it is mulling to close or curtail about 531,000
tonnes of capacity to help improve profit margins and stay
competitive.

Aluminum prices have dropped 27 per cent as compared to 2011 due to lesser global demand in manufacturing and construction, partly due
to debt troubles in the United States and Europe.

Besides, low growth in China, one of the world’s largest commodity
consumers, has also led to uneven demand for Aluminum, used in a
slew of products from cans to airplanes.

Because of the decrease of the industrial demand amid weakening global trend, Base metal prices fell by up to Rs 5 per kg in the local non-ferrous metal market.
After base metals softened in global markets, the sentiment turned bearish as Fitch Ratings said it may cut the credit ratings of European nations and the worst performance this year was posted by China’s property prices, as shown by the data.
On the other hand, at the London Metal Exchange, copper for three-month delivery showed a decrease by 2 per cent.
The other causality of the decrease in industrial demand was the damp trading sentiment.
Copper mixed scrap and nickel (4×4) fell by Rs 2 and Rs 5 to Rs 378 and Rs 1,050-1,052 per kg, respectively in the national capital.
Besides, Zinc ingot, lead ingot and lead imported traded lower by Rs 2 each to Rs 118-124.50, Rs 124 and Rs 122 per kg, respectively

For possible downgrade, Moody’s Japan KK has placed its A2 senior unsecured debt ratings on Nippon Steel Corporation as well as the Baa1 rating on its SPV’s preferred securities under review.

The main reason behind the review is the increased concerns over delays in the recovery of NSC’s financial metrics. Moody’s view that there will be a continued and possibly intensifying imbalance of supply and demand in the global steel industry and that as a result, NSC is likely to experience stagnant profitability even with the culmination of its proposed integration with Sumitomo Metal Industries Limited has led to the premise of this expectation. The integration received a nod of approval by the Japan Fair Trade Commission, recently.

In order to get the evidence of synergies including any enhancement of global competitiveness achieved by merging their global production systems and any increased cost competitiveness, the integration of NSC and Sumitomo will be continuously monitored by Moody.

The impact on earnings and cash flow of the current conditions affecting the steel industry and its impact of NSC’s ability to improve margins and reduce leverage will constitute the main focus of the review.

In order to stop the increase of metal theft in rural areas, a countryside organisation has thrown its weight behind moves to get cash taken out of scrap metal dealing.
Metal Theft (Protection) Bill proposed by Graham Jones MP which aims to stop cash payments for scrap metal, is getting full support from the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), and has welcomed the Government’s plan to establish a £5million national taskforce to tackle metal theft.
“Stolen metal is being traded too easily within the scrap metal industry. Hundreds of CLA members have been victims of metal theft, with some losing thousands of pounds by repairing and replacing stolen lead and other metals. Thefts from heritage buildings are particularly expensive for owners to replace because local authorities and English Heritage have to agree on suitable alternatives,” said CLA President Harry Cotterell.
It was announced, earlier this month that in the North East new measures to combat the increasing problem of metal theft were being introduced.