Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Our first question will come from the line of Kuni Chen of Banc of America-Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.
Kuni Chen - Banc of America-Merrill Lynch
I guess just first off, on the North American utilization rates in your outlook there, basically as you go forward from here, is your view to sort of throttle up and throttle back your number of blast furnaces depending upon your order entry rates or certainly at a below 60% utilization rate? You think you might be closer at this point to contemplating any permanent capacity decisions?
John Surma
I don't know that we can give you anything definitive there. Kuni it’s a very fair question, but I think as our comments in the release and Gretchen indicated, it's likely that we're going to take two furnaces off sometime during the quarter, depends on how we see the market developing, and we're going to continue to try to match our steel make with the ultimate demand is, but there is just so much uncertainty compounded by the fact this is a seasonally difficult time.
Anyway, it's hard to filter out how much of this is seasonal versus how much might be more systemic. So, I think we're continuing to look over our hand, see what we think is the best configuration in the long-term for the company. That depends a lot of course what the long-term for it looks like and I don’t know that we know anymore about that today and the last time we did this, I think we'll have to look at that, as well as what other developments on the supply side in North America might be. So, we'll factor all that in, but we continue to look at our hand but nothing definitive on it yet.
Kuni Chen - Banc of America-Merrill Lynch
Okay. And just as a follow-up, can you comment on your raw material position here for 2010 at this point, and you know, particularly on met coal.
John Surma
Sure. Well, again, North America from an iron standpoint there we're self-sufficient and we'll make again, what we need. We've drawn a good bit of inventory down to quite a low level. We think we're okay where we are but we can make more if we need it. So, I think from iron standpoint we're fine. On the met coal side, we have in the books sufficient commitments for next year to make the coke that we expect to need and to be able to make. So, I think we're fine from a volume standpoint. Met coal prices are still being worked on. I don't want to do all that in this environment, but I think in general this year we've been estimating all in delivered for met for North America to be about 160 ton for us. We like to think we'll do better than that next year. Some contracts are already in, give us that hope. Some have callers that would be plus or minus at favorable prices and (inaudible) to be negotiated but we think we'll be like this year maybe a bit better.
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