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Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: craig crawford who wrote (366)	6/27/2001 3:19:07 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1643

Titanium, Nickel Take Off metalcenternews.com Sky-high demand in aerospace and power-generation markets leads to rising prices for high-performance titanium and nickel alloys. Industrial segments, such as chemical processing, are less robust as manufacturing and fabrication activities move overseas. BY CORINNA C. PETRY, MANAGING EDITOR 2000 world production of titanium reached 48,000 metric tons, level with 1999, says Michael Metz, vice president of aerospace marketing for Denver-based Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet). The peak production year was 1997 at 60,000 metric tons, he adds, and 2001 production should exceed 50,000 metric tons. RMI Titanium Co., Niles, Ohio, shipped roughly 10 million pounds of mill products last year of the 52 million pounds shipped by all U.S. producers. Worldwide shipments last year topped 100 million pounds, estimates Richard Leone, manager of investor relations and marketing services ................................................................................................................... Sky-high demand in aerospace and power-generation markets leads to rising prices for high-performance titanium and nickel alloys. Industrial segments, such as chemical processing, are less robust as manufacturing and fabrication activities move overseas. Nickel alloys are benefiting greatly from the same industries as titanium: commercial aerospace, power generation, and oil and gas. .......................................................................................................................... "The second market is power generation, especially land-based gas turbines--giant jet engines on a concrete pad that generate electricity. These represent a booming market," especially in California, New York and the upper Midwest, areas that have not built new power plants for many years. Turbines are small, highly efficient, environmentally clean , speedy to install and quick to bring on line. "You can throw the switch and in 20 to 30 minutes, you're generating electricity," MacDonald says, which is especially useful in meeting peak power demands. The third strong market is natural gas, he says. There's a nationwide shortage of natural gas, which is found in a hot, corrosive environment where heavy products such as nickel alloy bar and billet are used for drilling, along with pipe and tube, valves and fittings. ............................................................................................................................ The International Nickel Study Group, based in the Netherlands, reports that world primary nickel production last year rose 5.9 percent over 1999 to 1.08 million metric tons. World output is projected to grow 7 percent this year to 1.16 million tonnes. Global consumption is expected to remain even with last year at 1.12 million tonnes. U.S. demand for primary nickel reached 132,000 tonnes last year, a 4.26 percent increase over 1999. Demand in Asia last year grew 8.4 percent to 271,000 tonnes, while European demand rose 4.21 percent to 272,000 tonnes