Mechel OAO (MTL), one of Russia’s leading mining and metallurgical companies, has reported results for its second quarter and first half of 2009.  For the first half of 2009, Mechel reported revenues of $2.4 billion, down 54% from the year-ago period. The company reported net losses of $471.4 million in contrast to net income of $41.1 billion year over year. However, Mechel managed a net income of $219.3 million in the reported quarter after posting losses in the last two quarters. Revenues inched up 8.6% sequentially to $1.3 billion on higher sales volumes. Before this, revenues were impacted by weak demand for steel and coking coal as well as foreign exchange losses.  The Steel segment generated 57% of revenues, which slipped 53.5% year over year to $1.40 billion in the first half of 2009. Unfavorable market conditions and low demand for steel from the end consumer ...

Massey Energy Co. (MEE) − the largest coal company in Central Appalachia, Virginia – announced third-quarter earnings of 19 cents per share, which was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, lower coal shipments and prices drove a 69% slump in earnings year over year.   Revenues in the quarter plunged 6% year over year to $6.4 billion, reflecting a 15% drop in sales volumes and a 4% decline in prices. Metallurgical coal accounted for 22% of total shipments, down from 24% in third-quarter 2008. According to company estimates, a fire that destroyed a southern West Virginia preparation plant in August curtailed production by 300,000 tons during the quarter.   Massey and its peers including Arch Coal Inc. (ACI), CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) and Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) were impacted by the weak coal demand. Demand for coal decreased with lower electric power generation

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According to the data released by the World Steel Association (WSA), global steel output increased to 107 million tons in the month of Sep 2009, down marginally (0.6%) from the same month of the previous year. Month-on-month, steel output improved slightly from 106.5 million tons. World crude steel production has continued to show a steady increase since Apr 2009.  Steel production had reached its highest level in July this year on the back of a moderate rise in demand and the resumption of idled facilities by producers. Total output of 103.9 million tons was an improvement of 4% from 99.8 million tons produced in the last month, but down 11.1% year over year.  All major steel producing countries such as China, Japan, Germany, the U.S., Brazil, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine showed peak monthly figures so far this year. Production in the Middle East, where demand was buoyant ...

This analysis from Dr. Marc Faber is adapted from our exclusive webcast Global Investing Outlook. Dr. Faber, based in Hong Kong, is a prominent international investor and a member of the influential Barronrsquo;s Roundtable. These are some of the thoughts he shared: If you look at the next 10 to 20 years in the West, I donrsquo;t see how the lifestyle of the average person will improve meaningfully. On the other hand, if you look at a country like Vietnam, they have a GDP per capita annually of $800 which may go to $3,000 over the next 15-20 years. The same is true for China and India. You suddenly have a middle class of 230 million people in India who will be buying cars like the $2,500 Nano (pictured) and other goods. Once a family moves from the bicycle to the motorcycle, itrsquo;s an improvement in their standard of living. But when you ...

Five Ways To Profit From The Commodity Nobody Likes

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Forget Superman… the real man of steel is Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of the world’s biggest steelmaker, Arcelor Mittal ADR (NYSE: MT).

Mittal has built an empire – and a personal fortune – by being optimistic when it comes to the global steel industry. And he still maintains that confidence today, recently going on record to say that global demand could rise by more than 10% in 2010.

Meanwhile, many of his peers in the industry sport trembling lower lips over their present and future.

Believe it or not, that ongoing debate matters to everybody, not just those investing directly in the commodity. Steel demand feeds into a huge range of sectors, so much so that many regard it as an important bellwether of industrial trends.

The Half-Empty, Steel Glass

Other than

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Steel production will probably fall this year by the largest margin since the Second World War. Most folks in the steel business have gray and soggy outlooks for 2010. Most, but not Lakshmi Mittal.

Mittal is the chairman and largest owner of ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT), the world’s largest steel company. Therefore, his words carry some weight in the steel markets. The fact that these words are so contrary to what everyone else seems to think is significant…

Mittal is singing a rosy tune that has the market atwitter. He thinks steel demand could grow more than 10% in 2010, which would be a strong rebound, indeed.

Whether Mittal turns out to be right or not will hinge on what happens in China. China makes up about half of the world’s steel demand. That’s where the controversy begins, because there is just a lot of uncertainty over China’s economy right now.

I think it’s noteworthy

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John Derrick, our director of research, put this together for last weekrsquo;s Investor Alert. After nearly doubling in the first seven months of the year, the domestic Chinese stock market fell more than 20 percent in August. China had led the world out of recession, its aggressive stimulus and other government programs helping to stabilize its domestic economy. With the August stock market drop, the conventional thinking was that the market had gotten ahead of itself and the Chinese economy was setting itself up for a significant slowdown. nbsp; Such pessimism overlooks many fundamental positives in China, particularly on the consumer sentiment side so important for sustaining a recovery. In Augustrsquo;s monthly survey by researchers at CLSA, for example, 91 percent of respondents said they believe business conditions in China will be the same or better in six monthsrsquo; time. Compare that to 42 percent of respondents in December 2008. Itrsquo;s worth pointing out that ...

John Derrick, our director of research, put this together for last weekrsquo;s Investor Alert. After nearly doubling in the first seven months of the year, the domestic Chinese stock market fell more than 20 percent in August. China had led the world out of recession, its aggressive stimulus and other government programs helping to stabilize its domestic economy. With the August stock market drop, the conventional thinking was that the market had gotten ahead of itself and the Chinese economy was setting itself up for a significant slowdown. nbsp; Such pessimism overlooks many fundamental positives in China, particularly on the consumer sentiment side so important for sustaining a recovery. In Augustrsquo;s monthly survey by researchers at CLSA, for example, 91 percent of respondents said they believe business conditions in China will be the same or better in six monthsrsquo; time. Compare that to 42 percent of respondents in December 2008. Itrsquo;s worth pointing out that ...

One of Russia’s leading mining and metal companies, Mechel OAO (MTL) is starting a new production line for cold-deformed reinforcement wire at its Beloretsk Metallurgical plant (BMP) subsidiary. Total investment in the project exceeded 55 million rubles ($1.79 million).

Mechel intends to increase the share of high-margin products manufactured under its Steel division. The company will process the cold-deformed reinforcement wire at its production unit in Moscow into quality wire rod highly demanded in construction. Mechel foresees an increase in demand for this new class of steel products. The company has already received an order for reinforcing wire of BMP production.  Due to low carbon content and mechanical strengthening, the cold-deformed reinforcement wire has several advantages compared to hot-rolled reinforcement wire such as improved welding characteristics, increased toughness and durability, and lack of scale. Additionally, cold-deformed reinforcement wire has higher design resistance to expansion and compression allowing reduction of

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Last week, Rio Tinto Plc (RTP) suspended talks with Chinese steelmakers over price cuts on iron ore. Rio, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Brazil’s Vale S.A. (VALE) were participating in the negotiation.

Tensions between China and Rio grew when the world’s second-largest miner spiked a deal with Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH). According to the contract, Chinalco would have invested $19.5 billion in the debt laden Rio. However, the Rio decided to form a joint-venture with rival BHP instead. Again, tension over the talks rose when four Rio employees were detained on July 5 and later charged with bribery and commercial espionage.

China, the world’s largest importer of iron ore, is now looking for just a 35% price cut, versus the 40% it wanted back in June, according to a Bloomberg report. That is slightly over the 33% cut that Rio has been proposing all along.

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