Olibeneli

There were a few posts a while back saying Australia would miss any recession and all that. Some folks posted faintly silly notions...about China still booming and it would be all "reasonably" rosy.


Have a look at this recent story below.

I feel really sorry for anyone anywhere caught up in restructuring or redundancies. Happened to me once, it is not nice. These pull backs on output only lead to one thing and in this climate it could be worse than people may imagine. In the UK car manufacturers are doing something similar.

To get people spending again, why don't they put a "use by" date on every bank note !!

Crisis strikes home with BlueScope mill shutdown
BY PAUL MCINERNEY
28/11/2008 4:00:00 AM
BlueScope Steel will shut its mill and paint line operations at Port Kembla for up to a month as the world's steel markets take a battering from the growing global financial crisis.

Up to 1500 employees in the plant's hot and cold rolling mills and paint and coating lines at Springhill have been asked to take leave over the Christmas-New Year period.

A BlueScope spokesman was unable to give a date on when the shutdown would begin, but steel unions say they have been warned it will begin on December 19 and last until January 12.

"Things are pretty tight at the moment, but at this stage most employees are happy to have time off over the Christmas period," Australian Workers' Union assistant branch secretary Wayne Phillips said.

"The industry around the world is suffering and at Port Kembla the company has begun intermittently banking or putting on standby No 5 and No 6 blast furnaces to allow a cut in production," Mr Phillips said yesterday.

"Things are not as bad as in 1992 when there were forced retrenchments but the union believes this crisis has a lot further to run," he said.

A BlueScope Steel spokesman said yesterday the company was not immune from the effects of the global financial crisis.

"Our cost management measures are a prudent response to the current economic uncertainties," he said.

"Due to a decrease in orders from both Australian and global customers, and the large number of domestic customers closing over the Christmas-New Year period we need to idle our mills during this time. Specific shutdown dates and periods vary from unit to unit.

"We are asking all employees to review non-essential expenditure and we are asking employees in our mills to take leave during the Christmas-New Year period."

But BlueScope would not compromise safety in any way, he said.

The reline of No 5 blast furnace and the upgrade of the sinter plant, planned for early next year, would go ahead despite the downturn.

Steel companies worldwide are cutting production as construction and manufacturing softens amid the crisis. Earlier this month, BlueScope chairman Graham Kraehe said the company was holding up well in light of the financial crisis but that conditions were "changing".

In an upbeat statement, Mr Kraehe said: "If you looked through the developed world, Australia is the best place to be and the markets are holding up longer and stronger and better in Australia."

At the close of trade yesterday BlueScope's share price was $3.82.

Cant rain all the time2

"If you looked through the developed world, Australia is the best place to be and the markets are holding up longer and stronger and better in Australia."

That's only because Australia is the last place to be hit! I don't think it will be as bad as the U.K crisis but let's see what it's like in 6 months time.

ABCDiamond

At least the employees are happy....

Always looking on the bright side

No one knows for sure what will happen, but some experts feel we will miss it.

MartinLuther

Did people actually post that or did you misinterpret them when they said Aus will fare better than the UK?

wanderingwombat

Wasnit Kevin747 who said that China would save OZ so we would all be OK??

WW

BadgeIsBack

People including myself recently seem to be pointing to this fact - now - but who knows.

Agreed. Different people are discussing the subject at various levels of detail. Differences in terminology, different emphasises. Front view mirror, rear view mirror. When, how, what, where.

The jury is still out, a view I subscribe to. As I said, I DO think it will happen, (a recession) and it is still POSSIBLE that Australia will fare 'better' (define terms). It would be a 'silly notion' (quote) to try to score points when so many things are being discussed. Can people be really circumspect in their posts from now on?

BadgeIsBack

Righto: food for thought. From a paper which can be taken fairly seriously and be relied on to not always piss in your pocket.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/rec...y1.html?page=1

Geelong Gent

Tuesday I think is going to be a big deciding factor for the next 4 months at least. My prediction is 1.25% to 1.5% drop in RBA cash rate.

Last chance before the big Xmas sales

Look around at actual things happening on the streets:
People walking away from deposits (ie not willing too complete on contracts) up to $400k (10% on $4m property). This recent development reported in the AGE must be shitting inner suburb estate agents/buyers agents.
20%-30% success rate at auctions in the peak of auction season.

Car yards packed with cars not customers - has any one noticed an increase in the number of for sale signs in the back of cars?

Early Xmas promotions/deals (why anyone would be sucked in too buying a bikini with snow clouds approaching???)

Number of mortgage arrears 3.8% from .5% in 2 months. Spoke with an ex colleague based in Sydney who I was very surprised had been out of work (involuntary) for 3 months and was 4 months behind on repayments.

Parents pulling their children out of private school into State (up 372%). Now lets see how private v state debate continues with state schools no coping.

http://business.theage.com.au/busine...1129-6nee.html

quoll

Add to that the number of retirees who are now trying to re-enter the workforce to make up for the shortfall in their pensions, the changes to Work Choices which are proposed to give quite draconican powers to the Unions (they will be allowed to enter your workplace and have a look at your records even if no one on the site is a union member) and we all know how good that will be for us as an international supplier. The reduction in interest rates whilst good for mortgage holders is horrible for those who actually have savings and need the interest in order to survive. It's not going to be easy here that's for sure.

I just had a call from the DS who is in UK and reported the UK media extolling the virtues of Australia and how we are going to come out of this unscathed - yeah right.

renth

Something I noticed a few months ago was the appearance of yellow, hand written signs on lamp posts around where I live saying "we buy unwanted houses" and a mobile number.

DrWho

The latest report from the OECD, which is traditionally more pessimistic than the IMF, also thinks Australia may avoid it... growth down to next to nothing but at least it's still positive...

Still think house prices will bomb though...

kevin747

House prices will probably bomb. Australian housing affordibility is lowest of all western countries.
The prospect of hundreds of thousands in negative equity for years will stifle consumer spending leading many to lose jobs in many sectors.

ABCDiamond

Correct wording is "A new international study has found housing affordability in some of Australia's capital cities is among the lowest in the western world"


133,000 new jobs
November 29, 2008 05:20pm
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the "COAG" deal would create 133,000 new jobs
Courier Mail