September, 04 2005
Essar Steel kicks off 1.2mn cold rolling complex
Essar Steel said announced inauguration of its new Cold Rolling complex in Hazira, Gujarat. This 1.2mn ton complex will make Essar a fully integrated producer of steel and enable the Company to offer downstream products with considerable value enhancement. The company has built this facility at an extremely competitive cost of approx. Rs.1000 crore, which is below industry average for projects of similar size and latest levels of technology
The manufacturing facility consists of two Pickling lines (capacity 1.4 MTPA), two Cold Rolling mills, a Reversing mill and a Tandem Cold mill (capacity 1.2 MTPA), two Galvanizing lines (capacity 0.5 MTPA), Batch Annealing Furnace (capacity 0.5 MTPA), skin-pass mill (capacity 1.0 MTPA). In addition, the Company has invested in finishing facilities that include slitting lines, cut to length lines and corrugation lines.
Essar Steel is today the largest totally integrated steel plant on the Western Coast of India and will become Indias largest producer of flat producer when it completes its expansion to 4.6 million tonnes by next year. The locational advantages of the port based facility and the availability of high quality Hot rolled products for the production of Cold rolled and galvanized steel, are other factors that will give further impetus to the Companys increased presence in international markets.
NINL, MEL & MOIL to be merged with SAIL
Steel Minister Mr Ram Vilas Paswan has announced that government was going ahead with its plan to consolidate steel capacities available in the public sector by merging smaller companies with SAIL. Mr Paswan said IISCOs merger with SAIL has already been approved and the ministry was now actively considering merger of Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd NINL, Maharashtra Elektrosmelt Ltd MEL and Manganese Ore India Ltd MOIL with the public sector steel major.
We want SAIL to be converted into a large global steel player to take on competition from overseas companies, the minister said.
On the question of RINLs merger with SAIL, the minister said that the Andhra Pradesh government was against this and the government was considering further strengthening the south based steel PSU. The complexities involving mergers would also be sorted out soon, Paswan said.
Mr Ruia urges Centre to protect iron ore as national treasure
Essar group has urged the Centre to preserve natural resources as a national treasure. ''It should be considered as a national treasure. Our natural resources are limited. You can export iron ore, but make sure that the domestic needs have been taken care off,'' Essar Steel MD Mr Prashant Ruia told
Orissa government has already permitted POSCO, as a condition in the MoU for setting up steel plant in Paradeep with 30 years mining rights for 600 million tonnes of iron ore, to export 30 per cent of iron ore on the condition that they import an equal amount of ore from overseas and Dang Committee on National Steel Policy is considering whether this model could be a norm for future FDI in the sector.
Indicating this agreement as a means to take away India's resources, Mr Ruia said the domestic steel manufacturers have made a request to the Union Government to reconsider the contract awarded to Posco. ''I am not naming any particular company, but the move is to swap the entire resources available in the country to be blocked,'' he said clearly indicating the Essar Group's objection against the Korean giant's plans.
Stating the country's domestic steel consumption has been increasing since 1990, he said India has resources to produce iron ore till 2050. ''We have natural resources and we can produce steel for the next 50 to 60 years. But if you allow somebody to ship all your resources from the country, who will take care of the domestic consumption,'' he said.
IISCO goes ahead with Rs 8,017 crores modernization
Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan today announced an Rs 8,017-crore modernization package for Indian Iron & Steel Company IISCO Burnpur. The announcement follows the merger of IISCO with SAIL in June. The funding is being done by SAIL, which has already commenced modernization and up gradation package implementation with a target to complete it by 2012.
About Rs 5,017 crore will be spent on the modernization of machines at the Burnpur, Rs 2,000 crore will be used to upgrade the iron and coal mines owned by IISCO and the remaining Rs 1,000 crore will be kept for importing coking coal. The plants capacity will be increased to 2.5 million tonnes of hot metal per year against 1.5 million tonnes at present and crude iron production will also increase to about 4.6 million tonnes per year compared with 3.6 million tonnes now.
The minister also announced a 25 per cent salary increment for the 16,000 employees of IISCO, whose wages have not been increased for long as IISCO was in red, to bring it at par with SAIL wages
Mr Munda hoping to get Mittal Steel after TATA
Mr Munda has during an interview with a daily said that Mr L N Mittal expressed his interest in setting up a large integrated steel plant in Jharkhand and sent his team of experts twice to the State. We held discussions at the official level. I personally had very constructive talks with him, both in New Delhi when he last visited India and in London. But investments of such magnitude are only made after detailed feasibility studies and due diligence, which is currently being carried out by the company. I can assure you that Mr Mittal is still very keen to set up the steel plant in the State as it has the most congenial industrial environment and the best of resources.
TopMagnum Steel may set up greenfield plant
Construction and alloy steel maker Magnum Steel Ltd has charted out plans for setting up Rs 212 crore greenfield wire rod and long products plant in Chhattisgarh. Company CMD, Mr IC Jindal, has informed that the company has signed a MoU with a Chinese firm earlier this month for equipment and technology.
"We will be using iron ore fines to make pellets and eventually sponge iron. The Chhattisgarh plant will have one melting shop, rolling mill, pellet and sponge iron plants," Mr Jindal said. "If everything goes on schedule the melting shop and the rolling mill should be commissioned by May next year and the pellet plant sponge iron plants are expected to go on-stream by the end of 2006," he said.
The company currently makes spring steel, flats, CTD bars and alloy steel rounds. It has five rolling mills in Madhya Pradesh and three other group companies, namely BR Associates Private Ltd, Vibha Steels Private Ltd and IRS Industries Private Ltd, which supply raw material to Magnum Steel.
The group has a turnover of around Rs 300 crore out of which, Magnum Steel accounts for around Rs 150 crore. Company is planning to merge all the three companies into Magnum to gain the advantages of larger size.
NMDC allocates 2.5 million iron ore Correction
NMDC has allocated the iron ore to units in Chattisgarh from Bailadila mine situated in Chattisgarh and not from mines in Jharkhand as published
TopSteelworkers Contribute $100,000 For Relief of Katrina Victims
The United Steelworkers USW announced today that the union has made an initial contribution of $100,000 for relief to the hard-hit victims of hurricane Katrina. Thousands of Steelworker members live and work in the Gulf area most affected by the hurricane, and many are in immediate need of temporary shelter, food, and medical supplies, the union said, as well as longer-term help in repairing damage to their homes and replacing furniture that was destroyed.
The union contributed $50,000 directly from the international, which was matched with an additional $50,000 from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund in Canada.
Global SS market remains dull
12.9 million tonnes output of crude stainless steel in the H1 of 2005 has recorded a growth of 6% as against 7.4% in Q1 of 2004 and 9.1% in 2 of 2004. Almost all the growth in H1 was in China where production rose by more than 50% YOY and global output, excluding China, increased only by 1.8 percent%
After the earlier build up of excess stocks, adjustment has been taking place for several months and is continuing in the third quarter, while demand is diminishing for seasonal reasons and prices continue to fall. The effects of mills restraining production in Europe and Asian countries to address price falls by curbing excess supply, has not shown dramatic changes and the mills are continuing to cut output into the third quarter of the year
The price of nickel has retreated from the highs that it reached earlier this year. This means that alloy surcharges are falling and in September they will be down by about 40 per tonne in Europe and in the USA by about $US140 per short ton for type 304 flat products.
Hydrogen gas deficit may affect steel firms
Fort Wayne based Steel Dynamics Inc. announced Friday that it is no longer accepting orders for some steel products that require the use of hydrogen gas as the supplies of hydrogen gas have been hit by Katrina.
Air Products Corp., one of the primary suppliers of hydrogen gas to the domestic steel industry, informed Steel Dynamics and other customers of a temporary outage at its New Orleans hydrogen-gas production plant because of Katrina. To add to the woes of the steel industry, Air Products Canadian plant is in the midst of a planned shutdown.
Steel Dynamics uses hydrogen for its cold-rolled, galvanized and painted steel products. Production of hot-rolled products as well its structural and rail division, bar products division and the New Millennium Building Products subsidiary are unaffected
At Valbruna Slater Stainless, the concern is more for reduction of natural gas supply. The fastener division of Nucor Corp is not effected as it can easily switch to nitrogen gas if hydrogen supplies became impaired.
Mr Mittal declares I want to be the Ford of steel
Mr LN Mittal during an interview has laid out ambitious plans to turn Mittal Steel to rival Ford.
He said Ford was a good model for the company, which listed last year and is the worlds biggest steel group. The Ford brand still exists after 100 years and it is a professionally run company. And if any family member has an interest in running the company, he has an opportunity to do it.
Mr Mittals tight grip on the company as he and his family control 88% of the shares could put off some investors. Goldman Sachs said last week family involvement and other corporate-governance concerns meant its value should be discounted by 15%
Demand of thermal coal to effect metallurgical coal prices
Industry experts disagree on the early 2006 trend in metallurgical coal prices, but there seems to be no disagreement that met coal prices are lower now than a few months ago. But, if met coal prices go further down, many in the current crop of metallurgical coal producers may switch output to steam coal for the energy market.
Metallurgical coal markets became volatile when the thriving Chinese steel industry in late 2003 and 2004 led the global steel markets to frenzy resulting in steel mills worldwide making outsized demands for coking coal and met coke, driving up prices.
With the cool down of steel prices and demand, the order books for finished steel diminished and the production cut was undertaken by many mills reducing their off take of coal subsided
But now as the energy sector is witnessing an unprecedented crude oil price driving all energy input products upwards, there is a surge in demand & prices for energy coal, narrowing gap in prices with low grade metallurgical coals in some part of the world
Japanese mining technology for coal mining in Vietnam & Indonesia
The coal mines in Japan that helped forge the country's 20th-century expansion may have long closed, but the technology and safety practices developed in them are thriving overseas. Cheaper imports spelled the death knell for Japan's mines, but its mining technology is being used in Vietnam, Indonesia and elsewhere and coal mined in those countries is now exported to Japan, contributing to a stable fuel supply.
The Mao Khe Coal Mine in uang Ninh province of Vietnam has been operating for almost half a century, but till a decade ago, it only mined coal in surface deposits using primitive manual methods. This was the situation in other mines as well. Vietnam, aiming to modernize, requested support from Japan.
In fiscal 2002, the Japanese government began a five-year program to encourage use of Japanese mining technology overseas, aiming to raise production and thus secure a stable coal supply for Japan. The Ikeshima Coal Mine in Nagasaki Prefecture, which closed in November 2001, and the Kushiro Coal Mine were put in charge of the overseas training project.
Training covers the entire sequence of operations, from digging tunnels, maintaining support, preventing flooding and ensuring adequate ventilation. Much effort is made to instill a firm respect for safety practices like check list for equipments, ways to detect toxic or explosive gases and installing signs indicating exact locations and escape routes
By strengthening safety practices and bringing in new technologies, productivity at the Mao Khe Coal Mine more than doubled to 1.72 million tons in 2004, from about 600,000 tons in 1998. Overall mine productivity in Vietnam also soared to 27.3 million tons in 2004, from 12.2 million tons in 2000.
Coal exports to Japan from Vietnam have nearly tripled in this period. In Indonesia also, both production and exports to Japan have risen about 10 percent each year
Ferro Metals goes to Aim to raise 85m
International Ferro Metals, a Chinese-backed metals group, is aiming to raise 85m by floating on Aim at the end of the month. The company has already raised 83m in project finance to pay for the development of a ferro chrome mine at Buffelsfontein near Johannesburg in South Africa and needs to raise a similar amount to drive forward the project.
IFM, which is led by Mike Turner, the chief executive, has been working on the scheme for the past four years. It has already carried out all the preliminary work necessary before going ahead with building a mine.
The company has so far been largely financed by high net worth individuals, but the largest shareholder is Jisco, which acquired 26% shares by investing $34 millions. Jisco is a steel producer from North West China and has agreed to buy around 50 per cent of the 276,000 tonnes of ferro chrome IFM plans to produce.
Union at Pechiney ratifies new contract
Members of the United Steelworkers of America Local 5668 avoided a pending strike at Pechiney Rolled Products early Saturday after voting 474-305 to approve a new five-year contract. The vote reversed an election one week ago where union members narrowly rejected (372-351) the same contract, prompting the international USWA offices to issue a 48-hour strike notice.
The notice was withdrawn after the union and company agreed to have a second vote. That decision came after about 120 members of the union complained to government and union leaders they had not been given a chance to vote.
The new contract is retroactive from June 1. It guarantees Pechiney, Jackson County's largest private employer and the 21st largest manufacturer in the state, will remain open and operational. The plant, which produces rolled and coiled aluminum for the aeronautical, aerospace and transportation industry, has about 1,000 employees
