December, 26 2005
Wildlife conservationists raise alarm over POSCO's port project
Wildlife Society of Orissa has raised an alarm that construction of POSCOs port at Jatadhari near Paradip it will adversely affect the nesting beaches for Olive Ridley sea turtles in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. "The sea turtles are already threatened on the Orissa coast by illegal mechanized fishing, rapid loss of nesting beaches due to Casuarina plantations and light pollution from industrial activities," Mr Biswajit Mohanty Secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa, said. "POSCO should not be permitted to build the Jatadhari port," Mr Mohanty said.
In a statement, Mr Mohanty pointed out that a study by the National Institute of Ocean Technology NIOT had revealed the progressive loss of nesting beach area in the Gahirmatha Sanctuary over the last three decades. This loss is attributed to the establishment of Paradip port in 1966. Stating that there has been a rapid decline in the beach area of the Gahirmatha Sanctuary that lies north of Paradip port, Mr Mohanty said this had resulted in the shifting of turtle nesting grounds from the earlier areas of Habalikhati and Gahirmatha to islands such as Ekakula Nasi I and Nasi II. The turtles were forced to leave secure and stable beaches like Satbhaya, Gahirmatha and Habalikhati and adopt these two islands for nesting for the last one and half decades. Ekakula Nasi I and Nasi II are highly unstable and fragile. Any major storm may wipe them out, resulting in the overnight loss of the largest sea turtle mass nesting grounds in the world.
"Any port on the south side of the Gahirmatha Sanctuary would be disastrous for the nesting beaches, since they would be eroded due to the disturbance caused to the sea currents," Mr Mohanty said. He expressed fear that if the Jatadhari port is permitted, this will add to the existing problem and lead to faster erosion of the Gahirmatha beaches, leaving no mainland beach for turtle nesting.
115 Chhattisgarh steel plants restart production
After an 8 day halt, 115 mini steel plants in Chhattisgarh are reported to have restarted production on Saturday after Chattisgarh government doled out an Rs.220 million package waiving electricity duties. "Chhattisgarh 115 small steel mills that began a shutdown from December 16 protesting the power tariff rate have restarted production from Saturday morning after CM Mr Raman Singh announced a relief package of Rs.220 million for closed units," Mr Ashok Surana secretary of the Mini Steel Plants Association told press
The government's three-month package begins Jan 1, 2006. But Mr Surana threatened to halt production again after March 2006 again if the state government did not extend the package.
The 115 steel mills produce 2.5 million tonnes of steel annually or about 8-10 percent of India's total steel output.
But Chhattisgarh 70 sponge iron units that account for 30% of India's total annual output of 10 million tonnes of sponge iron but which closed production December 20 because of a recurring iron ore and coal crisis will continue their shutdown. "The Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association and the public sector National Mineral Development Corporation will be holding a high level meeting at the latter's headquarters in Hyderabad on December 27 to find a breakthrough on the raw material crunch for sponge units that make sponge iron," Mr Suresh Agarwal, president of the Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association, said.
Hindalco, NLC and CIL to form JV for coal mining in Orissa
It s reported in a daily that Hindalco Industries has joined hands with Coal India and Neyveli Lignite Corporation for a coal project in Orissa. While both Hindalco and Neyveli will hold 15% each in the proposed JV CIL will hold the majority 70% stake.
The coal will be utilized as feed for the upcoming power projects. Hindalco, which has announced plans to set up mega Greenfield projects in Orissa will benefit from this power project."
TATA Motors to tap into S Korea's mid size truck market
The South Korean unit of TATA Motors, which has so far focused on large sized commercial vehicles, will roll out a new mid-sized truck in the South Korean market in January
Tata Daewoo Ltd. will sell the new truck Nobus in three models in the range of 4.5 tons, 5 tons and 7 tons, the company said.
KIOCL employees seek Mr Jaitleys help to continue mining
According to a press release, the Kudremukh Mazdoor Sangha office-bearers met former union minister, supreme court advocate and BJP national secretary Mr Arun Jaitley and urged him to press the Central and State government, to allow them to continue mining at Kudremukh and grant mining lease to Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited for mining at Ramanadurga in Bellary.
The release also stated that Arun Jaitley has given his assurance to safeguard the interest of KIOCL and its laborers.
TATA Steel Family Initiatives Foundation wins FICCI award
Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation TSFIF, that provides health and family welfare services in and around the industrial city of Jamshedpur has won Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry FICCI award. Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh conferred the award to on the occasion of 78th Annual General Meeting of FICCI.
TSFIF covers a wide spectrum of heterogeneous population including industrial workers, urban areas and rural community dwellers within the steel city and in the rural areas in the radius of 10 to 20 Kilometers.
It covers the rural and peri-urban population through basic health care amenities. The company has 21 maternal and child health clinics, which provide antenatal, postnatal and immunization services. TSFIF is also involved in the population stabilization program. It works to improve the reproductive and sexual health of the communities by focusing on Maternal and Child health, Quality of Care, HIV / AIDS, Family Planning and Gender.
MEPS - Steel companies the darlings of the stock market
According to MEPS, the current bidding by several contending parties to buy the Canadian steel producer Dofasco has highlighted the extraordinary turnaround in the value of steel company assets in the last couple of years. Aside from privatizations, where special circumstances apply, it is hard to recall the last time that a steel company was the subject of a bidding battle between rivals anxious to grab its business and assets for itself. During the decades when steelmakers struggled to provide investors with a return on their capital, such takeover wars were rare.
Most recent steel company fusions- going back to the mergers that formed Corus, JFE and Arcelor, and the Mittal acquisition of International Steel Group have been agreed deals, not contested takeovers. Steel company amalgamations like these were usually based on cost cutting and finding synergies. Industry executives were looking for ways to rationalize in order to reduce inefficiencies. Such mergers often led to plant closures, capacity reductions and serious job losses.
Now things have changed. Dofasco is part of other companies' expansion plans. ThyssenKrupp and Arcelor are both increasing their production of slabs at low-cost locations in Brazil, and they need Dofasco as a captive consumer. Many of Dofasco's assets are good quality. It is an important supplier of high-value sheet and processed products such as tailor welded blanks and tubes for hydro forming to the North American automotive industry. This is a large, if hardly fast-growing, outlet for added value steels. The company also has important shares of markets such as packaging steels which fit with the strategic objectives of both ThyssenKrupp and Arcelor.
Just as important, Dofasco has iron ore. Its subsidiary QCM produces more than 13 million tonnes per year of ore and pellets, and in an era of high freight costs it is well located to supply European steel mills. Dofasco also owns nearly 30% of Wabush Mines, a 5.5 million tonnes per year iron ore producer. With iron ore prices likely to rise again in 2006, such mining assets are valuable.
If Dofasco does end up going to ThyssenKrupp, will the disappointed suitors look elsewhere in North America for steelmaking assets to buy? In the immediate aftermath of the bid for Dofasco, other regional mills began to look like takeover targets consequently US Steel's share price climbed by almost 40% and Nucor's by 17%. Even AK Steel, which has high legacy costs and made a loss in the third quarter of this year, saw its shares rise by 24% on takeover speculation.
Who would have thought it?
Iron ore deposits found on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
China's newest geographic survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed as the Roof of the World, has led to finding of three large iron-rich ore deposits, a senior survey official said. "Each of the three deposits boasts a potential reserve of more than 50 million tons, with that of the largest exceeding 100 million tons," said Zhang Hongtao, deputy director of the China Geological Survey Bureau.
The newly found iron ore deposits are expected to help ease domestic supply and boost the development of China's vast west region.
Widely recognized as the world's third pole, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau covers an area of 1.52 million square kilometers, almost one sixth of China's territory.
PSMC Privatization - Sindh wants its land returned
The Sindh government has demanded of the federal government that 14,663 acres of non core land of the Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation be returned to Sindh since the province had given the land to the PSMC.
However, the Inter-ministerial Committee on Privatization of the PSMC has decided that the decision on utilization of non-core land of the PSMC would be decided at a different forum, and in the meantime the PSMC will transfer this non-core land to the ministry of industries, production and special Initiatives before its privatization. The meeting of the said committee held on December 23 decided that out of nearly 19,120 acres of land that the PSMC owns, only 4,457 acres will remain with the company, and it will be sold to the investor together with the PSMC and the rest of the land together with other non core assets would be transferred to the government of Pakistan.
Guizhou Provinces coal output exceeds 100 million tonnes
Guizhou Province will record its first annual coal production of more than 100 million tons this year, when total output is expected to reach 110 million tons, up by 12% over last year
Guizhou, which boasts the riches coal reserve in the southern party of China, has steadily increased coal production for electricity generation over the past years, to cater to the major national project for sending electricity from the resources-rich west region to fuel economic growth in the energy-thirsty south and east coastal areas.
Forrest's ready to roll in Pilbara
Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group FMG wrapped up its final pre-Christmas business with the announcement that it has signed another five Chinese steel mills to take the mine's output. The new signings cover five million tonnes a year this means FMG now has contracts covering 30 million tonnes of its planned 45 million tonnes a year production.
FMG has all the necessary native title agreements, the state mining agreements, and all but one of its environmental approvals. Last week the West Australian Government gave the all-clear for mine development at both Christmas Creek in the Chichesters and at Mindy near BHP's Newman mine. The clearance for the railway line has been received, and FMG expects the tick for development of its Cloud Break deposit in early 2006.
The latest reserve estimate for Christmas Creek and Cloud Break came in at 1.07 billion tonnes, with 359 million tonnes of that being direct-ship iron ore
Dredging at Port Hedland will enable construction of the company's berth, over which all the equipment for the railway and mine will arrive. Dredging will be put to work on deepening the harbor at the place where Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group plans to build its berth, the first part of its $1.95 billion Chichester Ranges project.
Twenty-two months after the dredge arrives, the mine should be commissioned. First ore railed late 2007, full production of 45 million tonnes a year in 2008.
Record shipyard order books fuels steel plate demand
Shipbuilders are enjoying near record order books, generating strong demand for mild steel plate. At the beginning of December, the worldwide order book for new ships of all types stood at 4,213 ships, aggregating 224.6 million DWMT, which represents the equivalent of 25% of the existing world fleet according to Clarkson Research Services.
At the beginning of October, the world order book stood at 4,273 ships, aggregating 231.2 million DWMT, representing 26.1% of the world fleet. The decline is due to the large number of ships that were delivered during October and November, which outpaced the volume of new orders placed at shipyards. At the beginning of this year, the world order book stood at 3,673 ships, aggregating 218 million DWMT and a year earlier, it was approximately 2,700 ships 170 million DWMT.
Surging freight rates have been the main impetus behind the ordering bonanza, and the freight market has been driven largely by the vast growth in import demand for bulk and oil commodities by China in particular, against a limited fleet size. According to one industry analyst, "These are the biggest order books the shipbuilding industry has ever known
Most of the steel used in shipbuilding is mild steel plate, along with high-tensile steels. But changes to international regulations governing dry bulk carrier construction in the last seven years have meant less use of high-tensile steel, which is prone to catastrophic corrosion if not maintained properly and increased use of mild steel. This has pushed the light displacement tonnages of dry bulk carriers up, according to analysts. The move to double-hull tanker construction and the increase in average size of all ship types has also helped lift steel demand in shipbuilding.
South Korea is now the world's largest shipbuilding nation, followed by Japan and China. At the end of October, South Korean shipbuilders had 83.75 million DWMT on their order books, according to Clarkson. Japan had 75.39 million DWMT, and China had 42.77 million DWMT. Shipbuilding analysts expect China to become the world's biggest shipbuilding nation within the next ten years. China has the advantage of cheap and skilled labor, while South Korea and Japan, who have similar wage costs, have the experience and superior productivity," said one analyst. Another shipbuilding analyst noted that South Korea is working with emerging Chinese shipyards in technology transfer deals, aimed at increasing productivity in China.
Salzgitter AG with new Executive Board members
In its meeting on December 15, 2005, the Supervisory Board of Salzgitter AG appointed Mr Hans Fischer and Mr Heinz Groschke, as new members of the Executive Board as of January 1, 2006. Mr Hans Fischer will be responsible for the Steel Division and Mr Heinz Groschke for the Trading Division. Both members have acted as executive managers of Salzgitter AG since April 2005 and previously held a number of managerial positions within the Group.
As of January 1, 2006, the Executive Board of Salzgitter AG will consist of six members including Mr Wolfgang Leese as Chairman, Mr Wolfgang Eging for tubes business, Mr Hans Fischer for steel business, Dr Heinz Jg Fuhrmann for finance, Mr Heinz Groschke for trading business and Mr Peter-Jrgen Schneider for personnel.
Pakistans imports of Iranian HRC up in 2005
It s reported that Pakistan, which earlier used to import HRC from European countries, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and South Africa, has increased HRC import from Iran during the last few months
A importer sad that The import from Iran is available at US $380-400 per metric ton and it is cheaper as compared to other countries as well as prices of Pakistan Steel Mills". He added that HRC produced by Pakistan Steel Mills is still very as it costs US $550 per metric ton without including sales tax.
It is reported by him that since January Pakistan has imported 70,000MT of HRC from Iran
Irans Sadra to build 4 ships for Rickmers Shipping
German-based Rickmers Shipping Lines have awarded a contract to Iranian shipbuilder Sadra for building 4 ships with cargo capacity of 25,000 tons each at $120 million. The first ship will be seaborne in 30 months Mr Seyyed Mehdi Hosseini Director of Sadra stated. They would be used for freight transport from Europe to other destinations worldwide.
Mr Hosseini said that Sadra has participated in several international tenders in India and Qatar and negotiations for a number of sea projects with Venezuela and a couple of North African countries are underway.
Corrigendum STT Dec 23 - Mr LN Mittal named richest man in South Africa
The total wealth of Mr LN Mittal is about $ 25 billion instead of $25 million
The typographical error is regretted
