The steel business faces its biggest hurdle in 60 years with some analysts predicting double digit production cuts in 2009. Now, a sudden change in China trade policy may spell even more trouble for Western steelmakers, as Beijing is currently considering measures to shore up its ailing steel industry with new export policies.

According to World Steel Dynamics, a U.S. steel consulting firm, steel production could fall next year by 13.9% compared with this year. This downturn comes after a long period of growth in the steel industry. In fact, output has grown every year since 1998 - soaring from 777 million metric tons a decade ago to 1.34 billion metric tons in 2007.

The catalyst behind the expansion has been a robust world economy and a steep rise in demand in China - by far the world’s biggest steel producing and consuming nation, accounting for more than a third

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The steel business faces its biggest hurdle in 60 years with some analysts predicting double digit production cuts in 2009. Now, a sudden change in China trade policy may spell even more trouble for Western steelmakers, as Beijing is currently considering measures to shore up its ailing steel industry with new export policies. According to World Steel Dynamics, a U.S. steel consulting firm, steel production could fall next year by 13.9% compared with this year. This downturn comes after a long period of growth in the steel industry. In fact, output has grown every year since 1998 - soaring from 777 million metric tons a decade ago to 1.34 billion metric tons in 2007. The catalyst behind the expansion has been a robust world economy and a steep rise in demand in China - by far the world’s biggest steel producing ...

United States Steel Corp.Â’s (X) near-term profitability is expected to be strong due to higher flat-rolled contract prices and relatively low costs due to backward integration. The company also has strong cash flow, enabling increased dividend payments, stock buybacks and accelerated pension contributions. These factors lead us to rate the stock to a Buy with a six-month target price of $150.

Spot pricing is continuing to improve and is in the middle of a spike that started in early 2008. This is due to demand growth in China and other developing countries, high operating rates, rising input costs, a weak dollar and low inventories.

But U.S. SteelÂ’s domestic flat product volumes could suffer due to low steel demand from the automotive and residential construction sectors. There is the risk of volumes declining with the slowdown in the U.S. and global economy.

On July 29, United States Steel Corporation reported second quarter

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Goldman Sachs is downgrading their view on US Steel Sector to Neutral from Attractive this morning:They are transferring coverage of the steel sector to Sal Tharani from Aldo Mazzaferro. Firm is also downgrading their coverage view for the sector to Neutral from Attractive due to the re-emergence of various risks-both perceived and real, such as rising dollar, "China fear", weak economic data out of the developed and emerging markets, and softness in steel and scrap prices. They believe that negative news flow in the near term would keep multiples compressed, and wait for a better opportunity to get more constructive on the sector.Nucor and US Steel remain Buy rated stocks. However, they are removing US Steel from Conviction Buy List and also upgrading STLD to Buy, replacing CMC, which is now rated Neutral. In the near term, the firm see smore ...

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There are a variety of media reports this weekend exploring the issue of thieves who are absconding with beer kegs and taking them to scrap metal yards where they can receive upwards of $50 for an empty keg. One report discussed how some manhole covers have even disappeared.