Plate World Cost Curve

WSD has expanded its offerings of World Cost Curves to include producers of plate in addition to hot-and cold-rolled coil and wire rod. The analysis includes about 120 actual plants and 120 theoretical or reference plants in 44 countries with a capacity to produce 84 million tonnes of plate. The model is based on the same raw material and wage inputs as the cold-rolled coil cost curve.

The Plate World Cost Curve is a hands-on strategic tool that can be used to provide a detailed understanding of the cost position of the competition, set cost reduction targets, develop pricing strategies, determine opportunities for increased cash flow and allow quicker and more informed responses to competitive situations.

The Plate WCC is offered on an annual basis ó $7,500 to World Steel Dynamics subscribers and $12,500 to others. Subscribers receive:

• A computer print-out with cost assumptions for each country's reference plant and, for each individual plant, qualitative ratings in 20 categories, costs at and through each process stage in U.S. dollars and the home currency, and a ranking versus all others in 38 cost categories. Included is the employment cost, manhours at stage, raw materials cost, input/output ratios at stage, coke cost, liquid steelmaking cost, slab cost, plate rolling cost, plate finishing cost, depreciation and interest expenses, share of costs fixed and share of costs in dollars by category.

• A PC version on CD ROM which permits the user to change for each plant assumptions on currency value, operating rate, manhours per tonne, employment cost per hour, major material cost, other material cost, depreciation and interest expense, share of costs fixed and share of costs in U.S. dollars.

• A series of cost curve charts to analyze the results, including rankings for plate making costs with and without overhead, pretax cost, manhours per tonne, and marginal and through-stage costs for each process.