Six questions every canmaker should ask about the financial downturn

The Canmake: "Earlier this year The Canmaker’s editorial team asked its board member and investment banker Arthur Stupay a number of questions about the possible impact of the credit crunch on the metal packaging industry and its customers, and what the best strategy could be to weather the storm as we enter 2009. (First featured in the November issue)

1. How bad could the recession be? Could it cause a worldwide depression as in the 1930s?
2. How will the feared recession affect canned products?
3. Will it affect all regions, or some more than others?
4. How will the credit crunch affect my company’s ability to get loans?
5. Will it affect companies with high debt more than others?
6. I’m already cutting costs. What else is there to do?
The answers were more positive than you'd expect."

A voltammetric approach to an estimate of metal release from tinplate promoted by ligands present in can

Scopus: "A linear sweep voltammetric (LSV) approach is proposed for achieving rapid information on metal release from tinned containers into preserved vegetables. 

Chopped tomato and pea preserves were chosen as prototypes for acid and nearly neutral canned food, respectively. Metal release in these vegetables tinned into both bare and lacquered containers was compared with that found in synthetic samples containing some organic complexing agents (acetic, ascorbic, citric, malic, oxalic, pyroglutamic acids) present in the vegetables considered, thus showing that some of these components affected markedly the metal release in bare cans"

Baosteel, CSSC Tie Hands to Cope with Economic Downtown

China Mining: "Baosteel, China's largest steel producer, has signed a partnership with China State Shipbuilding Co. (CSSC) in an effort to cooperate amid the global financial crisis.

According to the strategic cooperation agreement signed on Jan 5, the two giants will coordinate on their supply chains, technological innovation, logistics and management.

Xu Lejiang, president of Baosteel, said his company will actively assist CSSC in various businesses, such as building super oil tankers and offshore oil platforms.

Tan Zuojun, general manager of CSSC, said the cooperation could enhance their capacities amid global economic downturn.

CSSC plans to order as much as 20 percent more steel plates from Baosteel in 2009, as compared with the previous year."