West Midlands Steel Suppliers at risk from Fraudsters
QBE Insurance Group has brought to the attention of NASS members a spate of frauds which appear to be targeting Steel suppliers largely based in the West Midlands.
The Fraudsters are contacting suppliers via email or phone pretending to be a legitimate company, (See Herbert Glenn website link below). The email will seemingly be from a legitimate company and a website address may also be provided alongside contact number etc.. QBE clients are then applying for a credit limit on the legitimate company, potentially receiving an endorsement (as the profile of the legitimate co warrants it), yet the fraudsters turn up to collect the goods and disappear.
The underlying legitimate company has no idea of this occurring. Things to watch out for with any ‘new enquiries’ therefore are:
- A contact name you have not heard from before
- Not being able to contact the business by phone, but then receiving a call back from them shortly after your call
- Websites that are not searchable on Google but can be accessed when you type in the exact address given by the fraudsters
- Any websites with ©2016 at the base of the front page
- The contacts section of the website – check them for pictures of famous people for example the key contacts on the Herbert Glenn website who use an image of a Westlife member!
Please contact the NASS office if you have had any similar experiences or you would like more information.
AIIS Announces Filing of Comments on Customs and Border Protection Interim Regulations Governing Investigation of Duty Evasion Claims
AIIS Announces Filing of Comments on Customs and Border Protection Interim Regulations Governing Investigation of Duty Evasion Claims
Falls Church, VA. October 14, 2016. The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), whose members represent tens of thousands of men and women working in the steel supply chain, on October 11, 2016, filed comments with the United States Customs and Border Protection Bureau (CBP) outlining AIIS’s concerns regarding CBP’s Interim Regulations governing the investigation of claims of evasion of antidumping and countervailing duties under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA).
In its comments, AIIS told CBP that it understands the concerns over evasion of antidumping and countervailing duty Orders, and the obligations placed on CBP by the legislation. At the same time, AIIS noted that it hopes that the required procedures under the new law can be implemented in a manner that limits potential negative effects on parties not engaged in evasion.
Specific AIIS suggestions to improve the Interim Regulations include recommendations to:
Enhance transparency of investigations. At a minimum, CBP should allow an alleged evading interested party the opportunity to respond to the allegations before potentially devastating measures may be taken against it. Under the Interim Regulations, an alleged evading interested party might have no opportunity to provide information until after interim measures are in effect. The economic consequences for an alleged evading party subjected to interim measures, including retroactive duty deposits and the potential disruption of its supply chain with possible loss of customers, can be enormous, even if the final determination finds no evasion occurred.
Promote efficiency. The application of interim measures during an investigation would place an administrative burden on CBP. Requiring that notice be provided to alleged evading interested parties during the initial investigation, allowing the possibility of response, would promote efficiency by making it more likely that unfounded allegations would not lead to unnecessary interim measures.
Enhance supply chain operations. CBP should consider giving public notice when investigations are not initiated in order to discourage potential misuse of evasion provisions.
As AIIS Chairman John Foster affirmed, the underlying objective of the organization’s recommendations is advancing economic growth:
“Today we are seeing global trade grow more slowly than world economic output for the first time in 15 years, corresponding challenges in the shipping sector, increasing global trade restrictions on steel and other products, a continuing U.S. productivity decline, and a relatively weak U.S. recovery. Given this reality, and the overall importance of advancing economic growth, we respectfully suggest that it is vitally important that we achieve an appropriate balance between trade facilitation and enforcement that minimizes potential negative effects on parties not engaged in evasion. We very much look forward to continuing our close cooperation with CBP as this process moves forward.”
Networking at the NEASS Golf Day
Not to be put off by the torrential rain, 20 teams were wrapped up and ready as they took to the course at the De Vere Oulton Hall for an entertaining day’s golf with fellow NEASS members. Metalogic entered two teams, hosting Philip Jackson and Paul Stead from Bright Steels, as well as Alastair Macphie from Barclay & Mathieson – both converts to Metalogic’s iMetal product in the last 12 months.
As the event got underway, the sun came out and it wasn’t long before layers were being shed – maybe someone was looking out for us all?
Once the scores had been posted, everyone came together over dinner to compare notes on the course, exchange ideas on the current state of the market and what opportunities might be emerging in the future. Attending these events continues to feed Metalogic with ideas on how iMetal could be moved forward – as many of the best enhancement ideas have come from our customer base
Metalogic have the ASA Sparks Golf Day Boxed Off!
Metalogic were pleased to support the Aluminium Stockholders Association and their chosen charity Sparks earlier this month by entering a team and sponsoring the Matt Le Tissier Celebrity Golf Day. The event, held at Essendon Country Club on September 7th was favoured with glorious weather. Each team was captained by someone from the world of sport or television. The Metalogic Team were lucky enough to win Dave “Boy” Green MBE as their captain and were able to press our guest, the Knight Group Commercial Director, James Needs into helping out with our cause. The Team was completed by Geoff Kendell and Jon Fox, two members of our Professional Services Team.
In the UK, 1 in 30 children is born every day with a condition that may affect them for life and Sparks raises money to fund pioneering children’s medical research.
The day was a great success, raising well over £15,000 for the charity and providing some memorable moments for all the participants – many of which became embellished as the evening progressed. It was good to catch up socially with some of our customers and bring a few of them together for the first time. We also want to thank Dave for giving up his time and sharing what it was like to be a professional boxer (and carrot farmer) in the 70’s and early 80’s. For the uninitiated, his 41 fight career spanned 8 years, where he won 37 of them and 29 inside the distance. One of his losses was a World title fight against one of the greatest fighters the World has ever known – Sugar Ray Leonard. In March 1980, Green met Leonard in Landover, Maryland. He was devastatingly knocked out in the fourth round with one of the sweetest left hooks ever thrown
So the next time you get up and think that you’ve got a tough day ahead, put yourself in Dave’s shoes and think how he must of felt when he woke up on March 31st 1980!!!
Listen up! Lip Reading Awareness Week 2016
Lip Reading Awareness Week 12th – 19th September 2016.
Did you know that deafness affects one in six of the population in this country? That’s over ten million people! There are probably many more than that.
It takes people on average ten years to do something about their hearing loss. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important is that most don’t realise they have hearing loss.
How can that be, you may ask? In the most common type of hearing loss, sound doesn’t get any quieter, which is what most people expect. You lose the high pitched sounds first, but lower pitches are as loud as ever, and you don’t know what you can’t hear because … you can’t hear it. If you are turning up the TV, complaining that people, especially young people, don’t speak clearly any more, or struggling in meetings or social gatherings, it is probably time for a hearing check.
Martyn Brown of Metalogic has been hearing impaired from birth and in the early days largely survived on his wits and lip-reading skills. His hearing loss increased through adulthood and since 2008 he has worn digital aids. Despite this, he still struggles with the human voice and relies on Email, Skype (text) and SMS to communicate with customers and colleagues alike.
Martyn remembers how difficult things were for him as a child and since 2005 has been giving his time to the National Deaf Children’s Society, originally as a Deaf Role Model and since then as a Guest Speaker. His talks about his experiences as a deaf person can offer real hope and comfort – often to parents who have just had their child diagnosed. They are infused with humour too as Martyn relates some of his own personal stories like the time someone in the office asked him if he had a ‘yellow post-it note’, he replied, ‘a yellow plastic nose?!
Martyn finishes off his sessions with a self-written poem inspired by his involvement and will often leave the audience reaching for the tissues! We would like to share one of Martyn’s Poem with you here moving-pictures we do hope also that this story has inspired you to learn more about Lipreading Awareness Week (LAW).
One of the most difficult things for anyone with hearing loss, and many without, is eating out. This should be a pleasure, but for millions of us it’s a chore, restaurants today are so noisy.
For this reason, the Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults (Atla) is asking restaurants to nominate a day during LAW when they will turn off their music, turn up the lights, and put tablecloths on tables, because hearing aids are confused by sound bouncing off hard surfaces, which distorts the sound.
American Institute for International Steel – Latest News
Steel imports showed strong gains in July, growing by 12.3 percent from June to 3.17 million net tons. 
July imports, which were down 3.5 percent from July 2015, were boosted by a 77 percent increase in imports from Brazil (506,000 net tons, up 22 percent from the previous July), a 20.5 percent gain from South Korea (426,000 net tons, up 39 percent), 17.7 percent growth from Mexico (259,000 net tons, down 24.7 percent), and a 52 percent increase from Turkey (301,000 net tons, up 16.6 percent). Imports from the European Union, though, declined by 13 percent (404,000 net tons, down 23.5 percent from July 2015) and imports from Canada dropped 11.8 percent (445,000 net tons, down 8 percent).
Notwithstanding the July increase, the 18.88 million net tons of imports year to date were 24.5 percent lower than they were through the first seven months of last year. Imports from the European Union fell by a third to 2.61 million net tons, from South Korea by nearly 30 percent to 2.37 million net tons, from Brazil by 20.6 percent to 2.57 million net tons, and from Canada by 4.2 percent to 3.33 million net tons.
Semifinished imports increased 12.4 percent from June to July to 754,000 net tons. Year to date, they were down 22.8 percent at 3.5 million net tons.
From January through July, imports alternated between increases and decreases, with all but one month recording a double-digit change. In this respect, imports are not unlike the United States economy as a whole – unpredictable, and unable to build momentum. In a strong economy, there would be consistently strong imports to support capital investments and other drivers of growth. When the amount of steel coming into the country sputters, it indicates that the nation’s gross domestic product is probably doing the same
Wasps gearing up for the new season
Metalogic were pleased to attend the Wasps first event of the player sponsorship programme this week, which provided a fantastic opportunity to exper
ience an exclusive behind-the-scenes day with the Wasps first team squad.
This was the first opportunity to see the team in action at their new temporary training ground at Broadstreet RFC in Coventry. Wasps have invested £0.7 million at the club which included extending the training area and installing a 4G pitch along with state of the art gymnasium and training facilities.
Guests were treated to an up close and personal training session with the first team squad run by Director of Rugby Dai Young and his coaching team. The squad then focused on unit specific drills including a scrummaging session with the forward pack, which provided an unbelievable insight for all sponsors.
The event also allowed them to meet with their sponsored player the Irish Tight head Marty Moore. Marty joined Wasps from Leinster Rugby ahead of the 2016/17 campaign. The 25 year-old prop has won 10 caps for Ireland since making his debut in February
2014, in their RBS 6 Nations Championship win against Scotland, and has been part of Ireland’s last two Six Nations title-winning squads.
Leigh Harrison, Managing Director of Metalogic said, “This is our first year of the player sponsorship programme and we are excited for the 2016/17 campaign. It was a great opportunity to meet Marty and everyone associated with the Club and learning how preparation is going in the pre-season. As a premier supplier of Integrated IT Systems to the Metals Industry, we are proud to be aligned with this premier team.”
The players then joined the sponsors for a specially prepared BBQ by the Wasps Chef and catering team, which allowed players and sponsors a chance to meet each other in a relaxed environment, some for the first time, and build a relationship before the new campaign begins.
EU Anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of heavy plate from China
Following a further increase in imports of heavy plate the EU steps up its action against China by applying registration regulations.
Read the concerns and actions involved here.
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