The Canada Metals Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, metals associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Canada's metals industry.

Global results for November 2009 have been positive, with crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) at 107.5mn metric tonnes (mmt). These recordings indicate a rise of 24.2% over the same month in 2008, with November the third month in a row showing positive year-on-year (y-o-y) growth.

Worldsteel Q409 figures highlighted a healthy increase with regards to steel production within the Canadian metals sector. With Canadian steel production estimated at 970,000 and 960,000 metric tonnes for the months of October and November 2009 respectively, a marked increase in comparison to the 640,000 and 590,000 metric tonnes recorded in January and February 2009 is obvious. BMI estimates that steel production will total 9.5mn tonnes in 2009, a drop of almost 40% in 2008 levels. However, the market should post 9% growth in 2010 before reaching almost 14mn tonnes in 2014.

Expectations within the steels markets were dealt a severe blow when, in December 2009, ArcelorMittal announced that it was looking to eliminate approximately 10,000 jobs within its European and the United States operations in 2010. According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, the steel-making conglomerate is projected to trim about 3.5% of its global workforce of 287,000 employees. From a Canadian perspective ArcelorMittal Dofasco the Canadian operational arm of ArcelorMittal has stated that it is planning to reverse the trend by recruiting 100 new workers in 2010 to replace staff moving into retirement. In addition to this, and against the negative trend being experienced within the American and European steel job markets, the Hamilton steel-maker is planning to hike steel production with the revival of a third blast furnace a move that will create 30 new jobs.

Meanwhile, a report by the Metals Service Centre Institute released in Q409 has placed a somewhat positive spin on the current declining levels of aluminium manufacturing within the Canadian sector. The report has indicated that although November shipments of aluminium from the US as well as from Canada declined in October there were signs that the market may have bottomed out and was beginning to show signs of stabilisation. While aluminium shipments in Canada dipped within the Q409, the overall rate of decline had in fact decreased. Figures recorded by the institute have shown that aluminium shipments from Canada in November 2009 totalled 10,600 tons, a decrease of 16.3 % in comparison to 2008 volumes. For the 2009 year to date, shipment recordings were set at 117,800 tonnes a massive 24.5 % below shipments for the same periods in a y-o-y comparison with 2008.

Key Topics Covered:

• Executive Summary
• SWOT Analysis
• Global Metals Market Overview
• Aluminium Outlook
• Copper Outlook
• Metals Price Outlook
• Global Mining Outlook
• Industry Forecast Scenario
• Competitive Landscape
• Company Profiles
• Country Snapshot: Canada Demographic Data

Companies Mentioned:

• Rio Tinto Alcan
• ArcelorMittal Dofasco
• US Steel Canada

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/33a342/canada_metals_repo