Mr Ku Taek Lee CEO of POSCO met Mr Naveen Patnaik CM Of Orissa and put the latest report of the National Council of Applied Economic Research with a view to seek more support to expedite the company's mega steel project at Paradip, as the findings of the NCAER report point that the plant will boost the economy of the State resulting in increase in its gross output, employment and value addition.

Mr Lee while talking to media persons admitted that there would always be small hitches in such a big project. He said We are still hopeful of starting the project on schedule and the State Government has extended all support for the project.

POSCO had signed a MoU with the Orissa Government in June 2005, to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant with an estimated investment of 12 billion dollars with first phase of 4 million tonnes between 2007 and 2010. But POSCOs project is passing through a rough patch because of the opposition from the local people to land acquisition for the steel plant.

The Hindu has reported that Coal India Ltd is now working on an alternative to maintain the supply of coal to non linked consumers after Supreme Courts order prohibiting the sale of coal through e-auction.

A CIL board-level source told The Hindu "We will abide by the court order, and we are now looking at alternative routes by which we can maintain supplies to the non linked consumers who have no official channel for buying coal.

Indian government announced that a total of 253.3 billion tonnes of coal reserves were estimated to be in the country as on January 1st 2006.

Dr Dasari Narayana Rao minister of state for coal informed Lok Sabha "As per the estimates of Geological Survey of India, as on January 1, 2006, a total of 253.3 billion tonnes of geological resources of coal have so far been estimated to be in India,"

He said the total good quality coal production during the last three years from mines of CIL and SCCL was 96.55 million tonnes in 2003-04, 97.86 million tonnes in 2004-05 and 97.15 million tonnes in 2005-06.

It is reported that port and dock workers of various ports in India have organized a strike today. The protest has been called by All India Port and Dock Workers Federation. Understand from some sources that the Central Industrial Trade Union has also called for the strike.

In view of the strike, the normal port operations at major Indian ports including inward & outward movement of vessels, loading & unloading operations are likely to be effected.

As per reports the reasons for strike include
1. Privatization of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Ports
2. Delay in rolling back the age of retirement of workers to 60
3. Delay in implementation of the settlement with the Indian Ports Association for payment of productivity linked reward
4. Absorption of private transport workers in MbPT and JNPT
5. Out of turn employment on compassionate grounds to the dependents of workers who meet with fatal accidents while on duty.

Mr KH Muniyappa minister of state for shipping, road transport and highways informed Lok Sabha that the estimated expenditure to be incurred on projects under the enhanced scope of National Highways Development Project in seven phases from the year 2005-06 till the year 2015 is as under

(INR in crore)

The region wise distribution is yet to be firmed up as this depends upon viability of projects to be taken up on Build Operate and Transfer basis.

Raipur Alloys & Steel Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has signed a MoU with the Chhattisgarh Govt for rehabilitation of the people affected by acquisition of 335.376 hectares of land for its coal mining project in Raigarh, the Mining Lease of which has already been executed in favor of the Company. This will pave the way for opening of the coal mine.

Exim News has reported that the Gujarat Maritime Board has invited EoIs for the formation of a special purpose vehicle for joint dredging with the objective of developing three new port sites at Khambhat, Mahuva and Sutrapada. The aggregate investment for this has been estimated at INR 1,150 crore. As per reports GMB expects to receive the pre feasibility report by the month end and plans to develop these small ports on a build, own, operate & transfer basis.

Sutrapada, in Junagadh district, would be the biggest port involving an estimated project cost of INR 700 crore. This port is expected to handle container and dry bulk cargo with all infrastructure facilities such as suitable back up area, machineries, break water dredging and reclamation. It would have four berths of 350 meter length each and the dredged harbor area would have a depth of 13 meters.

The port to be developed at Mahuva in Bhavnagar district would be a fair weather port on the Saurashtra coast. The proposed port is situated 6 km from Mahuva. It is proposed to be developed as a deep-water port by a private developer on a BOOT basis involving an estimated cost of INR 300 crore.

One of the oldest ports in South Asia, Khambhat also known as Cambay, is a fair weather port in Anand district. Once a thriving port, it gradually lost its importance due to heavy silting and lack of port facilities. Now the state government plans to revive its through a wasteland development project involving dredging by GMB and a private investor. The project cost would be INR 150 crore.

It is reported that the Gujarat government has approved and recommended 9 new SEZs entailing an investment of INR 9,103 crore and is now waiting for final approval from the Centre. This investment includes only outlay for setting up SEZs and developing infrastructure facilities.

The SEZs approved by the state are as under
1. Indian Infrastructure Corporation's Limiteds multi product SEZ at Anjar in Kachchh district at INR 4,503 crore
2. Nipiam Infotec's IT& ITes SEZ at Vaghidia in Vadodara at INR 2,601 crore
3. Adani Group Co, Adani Township and Real-estate Co for setting up and IT and ITes SEZ at Dantali in Ahmedabad at INR.350 crore
4. PSL for setting up an alterative energy and energy ancillary SEZ at Rajula in Amreli at INR 212 crore
5. Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation's handicraft SEZ at Bhachau in Kachchh at INR 75 crore
6. Calica Construction's IT & ITes SEZ
7. Iplex's IT & ITes SEZ
8. Shivganga Real Estate's IT & ITes SEZ
9. City Gold Realty's IT & ITes SEZ

Arcelor Mittal has announced sale of Travi e Profilati di Pallanzeno and San Zeno Acciai both in Italy to Duferco for an enterprise value of EUR 117 million, as part of Mittal Steel's commitments to the European Commission during the recommended merger of Arcelor SA and Mittal Steel NV. The closing of the transaction is foreseen to take place in early 2007, subject to European Commission approval and applicable antitrust clearances.

Following Mittal Steel's bid for Arcelor earlier this year, the European Commission identified competition concerns in relation to sections. In response, the company committed to dispose of three European medium & heavy section mills: Arcelor's Stahlwerk Thringen in Germany and Travi e Profilati di Pallanzeno in Italy as well as Mittal Steel's section and bar mill Huta Bankowa in Poland. The divestment process for the latter is well engaged. An agreement for the sale of Stahlwerk Thringen had already been announced on December 6th 2006.

Mr Aditya Mittal CFO of Arcelor Mittal said "We are very pleased by this outcome. Travi e Profilati di Pallanzeno is an excellent business and it will have a great future within the Duferco group. The combination is a logical fit as the business already shares an upstream supply source with a Duferco subsidiary."

Travi e Profilati di Pallanzeno, which is a 100% subsidiary of Arcelor, is a rolling mill located close to the Lago Maggiore in Northern Italy. In 2006 the company is expected to generate a turnover of more than EUR 190 million for an annual production of approximately 500,000 tonnes of long carbon steel products. Its product range comprises of light and medium sections up to a size of 300 mm for the construction industry as well as wide flats and angles for the construction industry and track shoes and cutting edges for tractors and earthmovers.

Under the same transaction Arcelor Mittal will also sell its 49.9% stake in the steel plant San Zeno Acciai Duferco SpA held via TPP to Duferco. Duferco already holds 50.1% of that business via its wholly owned subsidiary Duferdofin SpA. The plant is located in San Zeno at Brescia in Italy. SZA is an EAF based steel making plant. SZA has so far been selling its semi-finished products to its two shareholders Duferdofin SpA and TPP. In 2005, SZA generated sales of approximately EUR 200 million.

Pallanzeno and 49.9% of S. Zeno were acquired by Duferco from than state owned Ilva in 1995 - 1996 along with the Wide Flange Beam Rolling Mill of Milazzo in Sicily near Messina. All three Mills at the time were quite obsolete. Duferco started quite important investments, mainly in San Zeno and then as a package deal with Arcelor within the attempt of privatizing Ilva in 1997 - 1998 sold 100% of Pallanzeno and 49.9% of S. Zeno to Arcelor. Analysts believe that the deal is rewarding both sides. Certainly for Mittal is a net positive surplus but Duferco is getting back 100% control of a business that is giving quite good margins in the present market with good perspective of continuing.

Salzgitter AG and Vallourec SA have announced signing of a preliminary agreement regarding the intended acquisition of a Vallourecs 100% subsidiary Vallourec Prision Etirage in France. VPE's cold finishing operations shall complement Salzgitter's existing precision tubes activities operated by its German subsidiary MHP Mannesmann Prisrohr and its Dutch subsidiary, Mannesmann Robur. The combined entity is supposed to take a leading role in the respective European market.

The project will be subject to the approval of the Salzgitter AG and Vallourec respective supervisory boards. It will be presented to the relevant employee representative bodies both in France and Germany. Completion of the transaction is conditional upon a clearance decision by the competent competition authorities.

VPE is specialized in the manufacture of cold drawn precision tubes. The expected sales for 2006 will reach approximately EUR 220 million, two thirds being dedicated to the automotive industry and one third to other specific industrial applications. The VPE operations include five production plants in France and employ 1,230 people.

As part of the project, Salzgitter also intends to acquire the German hot rolling tube mill at Zeithain in Saxony from Vallourec, thus enabling the newly combined business of MHP, ROB and VPE to be largely autonomous regarding its supply of seamless tubes hollows as feed stock. Zeithain already supplies the three entities with semi finished material. The mill employs 350 people, the envisaged output exceeds 200.000 tons of products per year in the mid term.

Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation has announced that it successfully developed the world's highest strength X120 steel, becoming the fourth manufacturer to produce such a high grade pipeline steel in the world.

BaoSteel began to research and develop X120 last year and successful patented it in November this year. The first batch of X120 has already been sent to pipeline plants.

X120 is mainly used for pipes to transport natural gas it can even withstand temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius. As natural gas fields are usually located in remote areas, steel pipeline is required to have an extremely high strength. The X120 pipeline steel will greatly save on steel consumption and other material costs.

Reuters has reported that the president CVRD dismissed talk of an informal accord with Chinese steel mills on a 5% to 10% rise in 2007 iron ore prices.

Mr Roger Agnelli said in reply to a question at a press luncheon said "We've had some preliminary talks...things are going smoothly, there's nothing to say. Mr Agnelli said that the annual price negotiations would be based on market conditions, notably supply and demand.

Many analysts expect term iron ore prices for 2007 to rise by 5% to 10% following increases of 19% in 2006 and 71.5% in 2005. Negotiations between the top three global iron ore miners and customers in Asia, Europe and the Americas start late in the year and can last for months. Prices are fixed when the first major steelmaker signs a benchmark contract with one of the top miners.

Steel Dynamics Inc has also cut its fourth quarter earnings target, citing market softness for its flat rolled steel. SDI said in a press release that "The recent fourth quarter weakness has been centered in the flat rolled steel segment."

Steel Dynamics said it now expects earnings between $1 and $1.05 per share. The outlook includes a charge of 1 cent to 2 cents per share related to severance payments. The previous guidance, which did not include the charge and was issued in October, forecast net income between $1.05 and $1.10 per share. The figures reflect a 2 for 1 stock split executed in November.

However it added that it expects the market softness will be short-lived. Steel Dynamics said scrap pricing trends have been favorable recently. The company expects 2007 will deliver increased shipments, higher revenues and potentially stronger earnings.

The warning comes a day after Nucor Corp said that its profit would miss projections citing lower than expected spot market prices and higher than expected scrap metal costs. That news sent the US steel sector into a tailspin with many US steel makers losing ground.

It is reported that a major fire broke pout at Coruss steel mill at Scunthorpe when about 80 tonnes of molten metal spilled out of a ladle as it was being transported. A skip lorry, electrical sub station and sulphur storage area caught fire. No one was injured in the blaze and Corus said operations were unaffected.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said the efforts of firefighters and the Corus emergency team had averted a major incident. Crews dampened the blaze with 50 tonnes of sand and managed to get it under control.

Mr Glenn Ramsden spokesman of HFRS said "This fire was challenging for the crews on the Corus site as a spillage of this nature cannot be dealt with using water. Corus fire teams worked alongside our firefighters to bring the incident to a safe conclusion as quickly as possible. The firefighters did an outstanding job at the site tonight in conditions which were very difficult." ASA

An investigation into the blaze was due to begin on Wednesday.

The International Lead and Zinc Study Group said that the global zinc market deficit widened further in the January to October period and stood at 320,000 metric tons, up from 304,000 tons last month,

Global zinc production stood at 8.795 million tons during the first ten months of 2006 up by 3.8% YoY while consumption rose to 9.115 million tons up by 3.7% YoY.

Western world demand of the galvanizing metal rose to 6.110 million tons, an increase of 3.5% on the first ten months of last year, while production marginally rose to 5.456 million tons.

US International Trade Commission is scheduled to vote today on whether to keep the duties on corrosion resistant steel, which were imposed to head off unfair foreign competition 13 years ago and are under review.

US auto majors, a major user of this type of steel, have asked the US ITC to end the duties because they say the US steel industry, which went through several years of bankruptcy and consolidation, has recovered and no longer needs the measures' protection and because they say they want a more flexible source of supply.

US steel industry executives pushed again for keeping duties in place. They argued that industry's health is irrelevant, although profits on corrosion-resistant steel are low, because the duties are aimed at preventing foreign producers from selling steel in the U.S. market at unfairly low prices. They also said that dumping is likely to resume if the duties are lifted.

Mr Lighthizer whose firm represents US Steel said Foreign producers have a lot of excess capacity and they will ship here because this is an attractive market. If the duties are ended, it is our view that auto companies and others will try to buy dumped, unfairly traded steel, there'll be an increase in the volume of imports and prices will go down, probably towards the point where we're hurting again.

Reuters has reported that Ceara Steel of Brazil will postpone its production until 2010 because of a disagreement over natural gas prices with Brazilian oil company Petrobras

Mr Ricardo Parente, development director of Ceara Steel's, said the Ceara steel complex will not pay more for natural gas just because Petrobras is paying more for gas from Bolivia after Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized energy assets earlier this year. He said Ceara Steel has some room to negotiate prices but that the project was based on projections of a daily supply of 1.2 million cubic meters of natural gas. He said "Petrobras is doing to us what Evo Morales did to it.

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras could face a loss of between $500 million and $1 billion if it' it honors an agreement to supply natural gas to Ceara Steel plant. As per report Petrobras earlier agreed to supply 1.8 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to Ceara steel, at prices that would range from $1.25 to $2.44 per million British thermal units. The supply deal would last 20 years. However, those prices are far below what Petrobras pays for Bolivian gas, about $6 per million British thermal units including transport to southeastern Brazil.

Ceara Steel, a slab exporting JV shared by Brazil's CVRD and South Korea's Dongkuk Steel, was scheduled to start in 2009.

Steelmaker Ipsco Inc of Canada reported that it will benefit from strong oil and gas drilling markets as a result of its $1.46 billion purchase of tube maker NS Group Inc.

Mr David Sutherland President and CEO of Ipsco while at Goldman Sachs steel conference told investor "We would not have made the acquisition if we did not believe that the future for the energy market will be quite robust. There is significant drilling going on, and we believe rig counts are going to be quite high next year."

Mr Sutherland said the acquisition of a maker of welded and seamless tubular products will transform Ipsco from a niche player, making steel plate and tubular steel in equal amounts, into an energy and infrastructure company. He noted that approximately one half of the world's oil and gas rigs were operating in North America and the NS Group acquisition will expand their tubular market in the US which is modest compared with Canada.

Liuzhou Iron & Steel Corporation of China has successfully commissioned a single strand continuous slab caster supplied by SMS Demag.

With an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, the caster produces slabs in the dimensional range of 1,000 to 1,650 mm width and thicknesses of 180, 200, 220 and 250 mm.

The spring guided, hydraulically powered mold is equipped with remote adjustment for the narrow faces. The oscillation, with variable frequency, stroke length and curve shape, guarantees a continuously good quality of the slab surface. The continuous slab caster also features the Dynamic Soft Reduction . The hydraulic segment adjustment serves to minimize center segregations and to prevent central porosities from occurring.

According to Mr Keidanren a Japanese businessman Japan must protect its national interests and key manufacturing technologies by strengthening rules on mergers and acquisitions by foreign companies. The proposals come ahead of a rule change in Japan that will make it easier for foreign corporations to take over Japanese firms through triangular mergers, in which a subsidiary of the acquiring corporation

Mr Keidanren also called for stock markets to allow companies to adopt a wider range of measures to combat hostile takeover bids. He urged the government to adopt regulations similar to those in the US that allow the president to suspend or prohibit the foreign acquisition of a US company to protect national security.

Mr Keidanren said that Japan faces the danger that technologies and R&D capabilities could flow outside the country, sapping the country's competitiveness and hurting national interests."

There has been an increase in mergers in Japan since 1997 when buyout rules were simplified and a ban on the formation of holding companies was lifted, and after the introduction of equity swaps and other streamlining measures.

Moody's Investors Service issued a new report on the coal industry whose outlook remains stable in 2007, notwithstanding some recent price declines and shuttered capacity. Moody said that producer margins should also remain stable, more so because coal producers are watching their own production levels, implying that coal producers are not flooding the market.

Mr Terry Marshall VP & Senior Credit Officer of Moody said "The stable rating outlooks on most issuers balance favorable medium term industry fundamentals against, typically, issuers' high leverage, rising costs, heavy capital spending, and weak cash flows. Moody said that the positive margins most coal producers are currently realizing will continue into 2007, in part because producers will be less susceptible to the relentless cost inflation of prior years, particularly in energy, explosives and steel.

Moody's does not expect any material deterioration from today's pricing levels, although there could be further moderation of pricing due both to weather and a slowing US economy. Demand for the thermal coal used in power generation is strongly backed by high natural gas and oil prices, while that for metallurgical coal should be helped by the ongoing, and likely permanent, increases in global steel production.

However Moody said that discipline in production should also help pricing. Mr Marshall said "Confronted with the one-two punch of softening prices and rising input costs in the latter half of 2006, a large number of coal companies idled or shut down high cost operations and lowered future production estimates, particularly in the Central Appalachian region. Moody said that some operating difficulties, particularly in central and northern Appalachia, labor shortages, transportation bottlenecks, and labor, healthcare, and safety related costs will continue to challenge the producers.

Mr Marshall said "Long term prospects for the US coal sector remain solid. Although not the most environmentally friendly source of fossil fuel, coal will continue to enjoy robust demand from the power sector as long as prices of alternative fuels - natural gas, oil, and uranium - remain high."

In a presidential decree dated December 11th 2006 Mr Victor Yushchenko president of Ukraine appointed Mr Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy as the first deputy secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council. In addition to having recently held the post of CEO of Evraz Mr Khoroshkovskiy has several business interests in Ukraine in addition to the controlling share in Inter.

Mr Khoroshkovskiy once served as deputy head of former President Mr Leonid Kuchmas powerful presidential administration and, between 2002 and 2004, as the minister of economy and European integration in the first Yanukovych government.

Another businessman recently appointed by Mr Yushchenko on October 10th to build up the NSDC as its head is Mr Vitaliy Hayduk. Mr Hayduk is one of the founders of the Industrial Union of Donbass.

Interfax has reported that Metalloinvest holding plans to invest $750 million in its enterprises next year. Metalloinvest's press office told Interfax that a 5 to 7 year investment program that the holding started to impellent at the end of 2006 would cost 6 billion rubles. Mr Maxim Gubiyev GD of Metalloinvest Managing Company told Interfax that this year's investment was approximately $600 million.

Mr Gubiyev told a press conference in Zheleznogorsk in the Kursk region on December 13 that Metalloinvest plans to finish consolidating its assets in January-February 2007. Mr Gubiyev said the ownership structure would alter as a result of the consolidation. He said "LGOK will own MGOK, and OEMK will own Urals Steel. The process is in close to completion.

Metalloinvest is upgrading its steel smelting and rolling technologies during the modernization of existing and construction of new capacity at the Urals Steel plant and OEMK. The project will cost approximately $3 billion in total. Metalloinvest proposes to invest $1 billion in the construction of a 5000 Mill at Urals Steel and another $1 billion replacing blast furnaces with converters and building additional capacity at OEMK. The holding plans to complete designs for the 5000-Mill by the end of this year.

The Metalloinvest holding includes Russian iron ore producers Lebedinsky GOK and Mikhailovsky GOK, Urals Steel, Oskol Electrometallurgical Combine and the Ormeto-Yuumz engineering company.

It is reported that Berg Steel Pipe Corp will choose in the next 30 days between a 92 acre site in north Mobile and an unspecified site in Lousiana for setting up a $68 million 180,000 tonnes per annum steel pipe plant to meet booming demand for large diameter steel pipe in the North American oil and gas industry.

Mr Dave Delie president and CEO of Berg said "Our order book is filled through 2007 and the outlook for the pipeline business is very robust as far as we can see. We want this new plant up and running as soon as possible.

Berg officials said that they are looking for a site with rail and water access and a strong labor market but incentives also will be a factor.

Russian pipe major TMKs Volzhski Pipe Plant has received the certificate of conformance of the ecological management system to requirements of the international standard ISO 14001:2004 after audit was carried out by the experts of the international certification body TUV CERT.

In 2006, "Ecological policy of the enterprise" and "Program of achievement of goals in the field of preservation of environment of OJSC VPP for 2006-2010", which is the part of the strategy of development of manufacture, was introduced at Volzhski Pipe Plant.

Chinese nickel major Jinchuan Group is reported to be considering buying a controlling stake in Philnico Industrial Corp for US$45 million. The deal is expected to conclude by the end of the March quarter next year.

Manila based Philnico, which has the rights to the Philippines largest nickel deposit, will use the cash to pay back debt to the government.

The Philnico mine in Surigao del Norte province has more than 144 million tonnes of nickel ore reserves but has been closed since 1980, despite Philnico acquiring the rights in 1990.

Pakistans Balochistan government has constituted three committees the Action and Implementation Committee, the Payment and Collection Committee and the Finance Committee to deal with different matters regarding the commencement of coal exploration activities in Chamalang.

The Action and Implementation Committee would be responsible for preparation of the development projects and implementation on them in the area. The Payment and Collection Committee would be responsible for the recovery of taxes and payment of compensations. The Finance Committee would be responsible for the financial matters.

The ChTPZ Group has announced that it increased pipe sales 13.9% YoY in January to November 2006 to 1.577 million tonnes. As per report Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant increased sales by 25% YoY to 877,200 tonnes of pipes which included 463,600 tonnes of large diameter pipes up by 29%.

November sales by the Chelyabinsk plant up by 26.4% YoY to 82,900 tonnes, including growth of 13.1% to 44,000 tonnes of large diameter pipes.

The Group's Pervouralsk Novotrubny Pipe Works from the Sverdlovsk region raised pipe sales 2.5% YoY in January to November to 700.100 tonnes. November sales jumped 31.2% YoY to 44,000 tonnes.

ChTPZ Group includes Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant, Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant, Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, pipeline bend producer ZAO ChTPZ-Integrated Pipe Systems, metal traders MeTriS and Tirus and scrap recycler ZAO ChTPZ Meta. Arkley Capital S.A. manages the ChTPZ Group's assets.

Almetievsk Pipe Plant announced that its production of pipe up by 30%. As per report, it produced 11.83 thousand tonnes of pipes and 2.14 thousand tonnes of pipes in November 2006 with external insulation also the shipment of pipes of different kinds totaled 12000 tonnes in November 2006.

Since year beginning, Almetievsk Pipe Plant has manufactured 115.17 thousand tonnes of different pipes and 38.63 thousand tonnes of externally insulated pipes.