BIR World Mirror on Non-Ferrous Metals - Issue December 2014

The closing episode of a tough year

We had a great panel forum during the Paris Convention and a very good response; thanks go to Bob Stein and to Marc Natan for their efforts in putting it together. Although the business climate is not the most favourable at this time, we had a very strong attendance and we thank you all for your support.

2014 is entering its closing episode and we will deal with new challenges in 2015. I will form a working group to devise another panel forum to focus mainly on the markets in the Indian Ocean region for our Dubai Convention in May next year.

Needless to say, 2014 has been a tough year, with a staggering world economy, more border controls on scrap metal flows reported from different countries and regions, metal theft, union strikes, territory/border tensions, shrinking demand and the slowdown in emerging markets. These are the challenges we will face in the coming months, and perhaps even years.

Here, I’d like to express my appreciation for Bob Stein’s leadership of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division over the past seven and a half years. He led us not only through the peak for our industry but also through the crisis of 2008, through the good times and the bad.


by David Chiao
Uni-All Group Ltd (USA)
Interim President of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division
24th November 2014

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