Commodity HQ: A Deeper Look At Australia's Commodity Industry

One of the wealthiest countries in the world, and the richest in Asia in GDP per capita terms, Australia is an unusual mix of a modern market economy with a large commodities-driven export infrastructure. Despite the influx of wealth created by its natural resources, Australia has never been particularly successful in developing a large manufacturing base. What’s more, the country has run large and persistent current account deficits for over a half-century. Nevertheless, Australia has very significant and efficient mining and agricultural sectors, and ranks highly in the world in many categories.

To read more, please click the link:
http://commodityhq.com/2012/a-deeper-look-at-australias-commodity-industry/

The Steel Sector: No Jam Today, But Maybe Tomorrow

Investors might feel like the White Queen is running the economy these days. There was good growth in the past, and a lot of people seem to be expecting it again in the not-so-distant future, but it is pretty hard to find in the present. With a series of pre-announcements over the last few days, the steel sector is definitely shaping up as a "jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, sorry ... none today" sort of sector right now. 

Steel Dynamics
To a certain extent, maybe Steel Dynamics' (Nasdaq:STLD) downward revision for the third quarter was not a big surprise. After all, analysts have taken down the numbers on this major mini-mill operator multiple times over the last three months and estimates are now about a third lower.

For the full piece:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/The-Steel-Sector-No-Jam-Today-But-Maybe-Tomorrow-STLD-NUE-AKS-X-CMC-VALE-CLF0917.aspx

Iron-Clad Swaps

However much the politicians in Washington, D.C. rail against swaps and derivatives, it amounts to about as much as the legends of Xerxes ordering his retainers to whip the ocean for disobeying him. Amidst the debate about how to limit the exposure of U.S. banks to derivatives, a brand new market is taking shape. This is not a new derivative, but rather applying old tricks to a new market - iron ore.  


The global iron ore trade is huge, totaling about 840 million metric tons and $100 billion a year. Oddly enough, though, it was a market that for 40 years was managed by the major iron producers holding once-a-year negotiating sessions with major buyers (steel companies, mostly) to set the price for the year.

This approach has worked well enough for the major producers, names that include Brazil's Vale (Nasdaq:VALE) and Anglo-Australian giants BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP). Customers, though, have been less pleased with this arrangement in recent years and the Chinese in particular have been looking for alternatives. Bowing to this pressure, the major companies began ditching the annual pricing concept earlier this year in favor of quarterly pricing.

For the complete story, please go to: 
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Iron-Clad-Swaps-VALE-BHP-DB-CS-MS-CME-MT0709.aspx