Steel Authority of India Limiteds Durgapur Steel Plant stood at an all time high in producing hot metal with 0.581 million tonnes during the October to December quarter.

DSPs production of crude steel, saleable steel and continuous casting products during the quarter stood at 0.521 million tonnes, 0.458 million tonnes and 0.29 million tonnes respectively.

In addition, DSPs production during the month of December 2006 registered an all time high surpassing rated capacity levels.

It is reported that Indian government will soon make certification of steel mandatory for domestic consumption.

Mr Kumar Aravind Singh Deo joint secretary with ministry of steel while Inaugurating National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology and Steel Manufacturers Association of Keralas seminar on Challenges and opportunities in the secondary steel sector'' said that the government will soon introduce mandatory certification for 16 steel items including TMT, ingots, long bars and billets etc.

Mr. Sigh Deo said that the ministry of consumer affairs would issue the notification of the certification and the steel units would be given six months time to adjust to the new norms.

Central government has formed a committee headed by the coal secretary to evolve a viable policy for coal distribution by January 29th after Supreme Court directing CIL for streamlining of the e-auction for coal.

The committee would review the existing classification of consumers into core and non-core sectors; suggest a mechanism for supply of coal to consumers in different sectors. This apart, the committee would also recommend mechanism for coal supply to small & tiny consumers who are unable to access coal directly from coal companies. The committee would also suggest strategies to bring about transparency in coal distribution by use of modern technologies including information technology.

Statesman News Service reported that Jaipur district administration, after the incident of villagers attacking a team of surveyors on 17th January, has warned the TATA Steel against taking up any work without obtaining prior permission from the administration.

As per report, Mr Arabinda Kumar Padhee DC of Jaipur has sent a letter to the TATA Steel directing them not to enter the area without prior permission from the administration. The letter mentions that the contour survey was conducted without the knowledge of the administration.

The land on which the surveyors were working had initially been allotted to Maharashtra Seamless Ltd, which abandoned the area after a violent attack during its bhoomi puja ceremony on May 6th 2005. The same plot is in the process of being handed over to the TATA Steel for their proposed steel plant in addition to the area already allotted to TATA Steel.

Meanwhile, Geo Design has lodged an FIR with the Kalinga Nagar police accusing 50 unknown persons of having attacked their two surveyors Mr PC Jena and Mr S Das. No arrests have been made and two platoons of armed police have been deployed in the troubled area.

Press Information Bureau of Government of India has reported that the production of zinc in the country in the organized sector during April to September 2006 has been 176,703 tonnes as against 129,465 tonnes during the same period last year.

Hindustan Zinc Limited produced 160,701 tonnes of zinc and Binani Zinc Limited produced 16,002 tonnes of zinc.

Ispat Industries Ltd has posted a net profit of INR 17.52 crore for October to December 2006 as compared with a net loss of INR 217.03 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. IILs total Income net of excise has increased by46% YoY from INR 1276.65 crore during October to December 2005-06 to INR 1865.26 crore for October to December 2006-07.

The improved performance is attributed mainly to higher production & sales because of higher capacity utilization and shift towards value added product mix.

IILs production of HRC during October to December 2006 period was 0.703 million tonnes up by 20% YoY as compared to Q3 of 2005-06.

Power Finance Corporation has invited global bids for the 4,000MW coal based ultra mega power project at Tilaiya village in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand for submission by March 20th 2007.

PFC has formed a 100 per cent subsidiary, Jharkhand Integrated Power Ltd, for taking up pre project work before handling over the project to the successful developer.

The Tilaiya ultra mega power project forms part of the power ministry's 9 ultra mega power project series. Coal for this projcet would be sourced from the North Karanpur Coalfields about 70 kilometers away from the project site.

PTI has reported that West Bengal animal husbandry department has handed over 947 acres of fodder land to the district magistrate of west Midnapore's for providing it to West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for JSW Steels proposed steel plant there.

Mr BP Barat DM said that The land acquisition process will be completed this month. Land from Bardi village could not be acquired as tribals there put up stiff resistance. He added that JSW has completed an environment impact assessment of the area.

JSW Steel requires 4,300 acres for the plant. The rest of the land would come from the 12 moujas of Baskabra, Masroo, Arabari, Ramahadi, Nutanbankati, Navinchak, Jambedia, Nitaipur, Kulpheni, Bhalukhati, Dubrajpur and Chakbandi will provide the rest of the land.

Indian government, which has decided to put merchant power plants with 500 to 1,000 MW capacities on the fast track to achieve its vision of for all by 2012, has earmarked 15 coal blocks in advance for merchant power plants to facilitate investment in the area where risk perception is higher.

Indian coal ministry has identified 15 coal blocks spread across the country with reserves of 3.6 billion tonnes to be given to power plants for captive use. Out of the 3.6 billion tonnes of reserve in the 15 blocks, 2.4 billion tonnes would be allocated to merchant power plants and 1.2 billion would be for captive plants.

Merchant power plants have been identified by private developers outside the tariff based competitive bidding process. The plants would not have tied up long term power purchase agreements and would necessarily mean balance sheet financing by the developer, as financial institutions or lenders may not be comfortable about projects that dont have long term PPAs.

EximNews reported that Anglo Dutch Shell and Total of Frances subsidiary Hazira Port Company is planning to develop a 1 million container per year terminal at Hazira with the investment of INR 1,300 to INR 1,400 crore and is reported to be in talks with PSA of Singapore for their participation in the project.

As per report, HPC proposes to start preparing a detailed project report to cover details of investments, the design of the terminal and possible timeframe within which the project could be completed for submission the Gujarat Maritime Board in the second half of this year.

Hazira LNG Ports another JV by Shell and total operates a liquefied natural gas terminal at the port, which has a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes a year. As per the concession agreement signed with the Gujarat government for the LNG terminal, it is mandatory for the company to construct facilities for handling non LNG cargo too.

The Chennai based Sical Logistics has got shareholders approval for raising up to USD 50 million through the issue of securities to qualified institutional buyers.

The shareholders at the meeting recently approved to raise the amount through the issue of securities in one or more trenches at a price determined in accordance with the SEBI guidelines.

Bharat Earth Movers Ltd has been honored with the Golden Peacock Innovation Management Award 2006 in recognition of BEML's innovative management practices that have propelled its growth and profits to new heights in the past four years.

Mr VRS Natarajan CMD of BEML received the award in Kolkata on Saturday from Dr Ola Ullsten former Swedish prime minister.

The award instituted by the Institute of Directors.

PTC India has reported a 32.7% YoY drop in net profit during October to December. Its profit after tax during Q3 of 2006-07 dropped to INR 8.6 crore as against INR 12.79 crore in Q3 of 2005-06. PTCs income during the quarter decreased by 23% YoY to INR 811.8 crore as compared to INR 1,056.54 crore during Q3 of 2005-06.

PTC India reported 13% YoY decline in net profit at INR 29.3 crore during April to December 2006 and increase in total income by 34% YoY to INR 3,180.32 crore.

Mr TN Thakur CMD of PTC India said "The numbers for the present quarter reflect the uncertain situation in the market for short term traded power due to regulatory actions as well as participant entity behavior. Even in this volatile situation, we have maintained our dominant position and provided predictability to our customers for their power planning needs."

India's auto component major Bharat Forge has posted net profit of INR 62.97 crore for October to December 2006 up by 18.23% YoY as compared to INR 53.26 crore in Q3 of 2005-06. Its total income during this quarter from operations, net of excise, increased by 18.74% YoY to INR 493.31 crore for the reporting quarter against INR 415.45 crore during October to December 2005-06.

Bharat Forges net profit increased by 17.66% YoY to INR 181.15 crore for April to December period as compared to INR 153.95 crore during April to December 2005-06 and total income increased to INR 1,348.37 crore up by 18.32% as compared to the previous year's Rs 1,139.51 crore.

Kalyani groups Bharat Forge is one of the largest exporter of auto component with manufacturing facilities is spread in six countries an nine locations with its customer base including global automotive original equipment manufacturers and tier 1 suppliers.

On Friday, nickel for delivery in three months jumped by USD 800 and closed at an all time high of USD 36,300 a tonne on speculation that some 1000 tons may have been lost at sea.

1000 tonnes is equivalent to nearly 20% of the total amount of nickel held in London Metal Exchange warehouses, which stand at 5,178 tonnes, or less than two days of global world consumption.

Nickel supply has been extremely tight in 2006 resulting in price movement from USD 13,500 at the start of 2006 to these levels in just about 12 months.

Xinhua reported that rising water levels have forced the suspension of efforts to rescue 29 Chinese miners trapped for last three days in a flooded iron ore pit.

The report said that the rescue teams were pumping out water and dredging silt from the mine shaft when a sudden rise of the water level forced them to be evacuated.

However, the rescuers believe that trapped miners still have a chance of survival and were discussing a new strategy to rescue them.

The flood occurred in the early hours of Wednesday at Haolaigou Iron Ore Mine in Donghe District of Baotou, when 46 miners were changing shifts and only 11 miners escaped. 6 miners rescued from the pit on Thursday and at least 5 miners were reported to be alive inside on Friday.

It is reported that Arab Banking Corporation has awarded a USD 555 million financing facility to Gulf Industrial Investment Company to increase the output of its iron ore palletizing plant at Hidd Industrial Estate and carry out major infrastructure work.

Initially the USD 15 million will be spent to increase production of iron ore pellets from the current 4.6 million tons capacity to 5 million tons by the end of this year. GIIC then plans to build a second palletizing plant along side the existing facility with an additional capacity of 6 million tons a year.

Kobe Steel and Siemens have been short-listed for the work including stockyard and jetty extensions and should be completed towards the end of 2009.

Dr Ali Basdag CEO of GIIC said that steel consumption in the Middle east has been growing at a faster pace than production, driven by a boom in infrastructure and real estate. He said that the growth in demand for pellets was estimated to rise by 17.5 million tons a year between 2006 and the end of 2008 and then increase by a further 10.4 million a year between 2008 and 2012.

According to People's Bank of Chinas report released last week, Chinese banks lent a record CNY 3.18 trillion (USD 408 billion) in 2006 despite central government efforts to limit the amount of borrowing from its commercial banks.

The increase is CNY 826.5 billion more than in 2005 and the amount has far exceeded the designated quota of CNY 2.5 trillion for the whole year, which was set at the beginning of 2006. The previous highest was CNY 2.8 trillion in 2003.

Chinas central bank has raised the deposit reserve ratio four times in the last year to encourage commercial banks to save more money in the central bank. It also raised the interest rate on loans twice last year.

AK Steel has elected Mr John S Brinzo to its board of directors from his post of the CEO of Cleveland Cliffs.

Mr Brinzo retired from the Cleveland Cliffs on September 1st 2006 and will continue to serve as the chairman of its board until the company's annual meeting of shareholders later this year. He joined Cleveland Cliffs in 1969 as a financial analyst and served the Cleveland based company in a management capacity for more than 37 years.

Mr. Brinzo received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Kent State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University. He is a director of the Brinks Company and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. He also served as a director of the former International Steel Group Inc. Mr Brinzo is a past director of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and is a former chairman of the National Mining Association.

Mr James L Wainscott chairman president and CEO of AK Steel said "Mr John Brinzo guided Cleveland Cliffs through some of the most difficult times in the iron ore and steel industries, expanding the company with domestic and international acquisitions, and transforming the company into a very successful world wide enterprise, and brings a wealth of insight and expertise to our crucial long-term raw materials strategies, and we welcome him to our board."

FIS reported that a large diameter pipe making plant for fuel and energy complex is ready to set up in Kurgan and documents on the land plot allocation are soon to be registered.

Mr Oleg Bogomolov governor of Kurgan region made this announcement on January 15th 2007 at the meeting of the regional governments staff. He asked the relevant departments to provide all round support to investors.

China's ministry of railways has allocated CNY 332 billion (USD 42.6 billion) for railway construction and purchase of new rolling stock in 2007.

CNY 256 billion will be used to purchase land, building substructures and laying tracks, CNY 16 billion will be used to renovate existing railway facilities and the remaining CNY 60 billion will be spent on vehicles.

The ministry said that 2,099 kilometers of new track and 2,347 kilometers of double track would be laid this year. It also added that 607 kilometers of new track, 663 kilometers of double track and 2,019 kilometers of electric rail would be put into use this year. The ministry said priority would go to the construction of railways for passenger transport, coal transportation and inter-regional lines this year.

Metals Insider has reported that Russian exports of refined nickel totaled 239,200 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2006 up by1.1% YoY or 2,600 tonnes after 4.1% YoY growth in 2005.

Russias largest producer and exporter Norilsk was budgeting refined production at 243,000 tonne to 248,000 tonne in 2006 as against 243,000 tonnes in 2005. Another nickel exporter, Ufaleynickels was aiming to lift production only modestly to 13,000 tonnes to 14,000 tonnes in 2006 from just under 11,000 tonnes in 2005.

Georgsmarienhtte GmbH of Germany has awarded SMS Demag a contract for upgrading its secondary metallurgy unit for improvement of its metallurgical treatment facilities and increase production. In addition, the existing ladle furnace in the Georgsmarienhtte works will also be modernized. Commissioning is scheduled for the summer of 2007.

The contract comprises the fabrication, erection and commissioning of a new secondary metallurgy center. The scope of work includes supply of a 140 tonne ladle furnace with 25MVA transformer output, the water treatment and supply system, a stirring gas control station plus ladle transfer car.

The scope of supply also includes a common de dusting plant, carbon injection equipment, temperature measuring & sampling lances, transfer station for both ladle furnaces and the electrical system & automation for all supplies.

Georgsmarienhtte produces steel bars semi finished and bright steel products from quality and high grade structural steels and is a supplier mainly to the automotive industry and its component.

Chinese steel producer Tangshan Stainless Co Ltd has awarded the contract for the supply of complete basis and process automation as well as the visualization system for a new hot strip mill to Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services. The start-up of the new rolling mill is scheduled for December 2007.

Siemens will supply the basis and process automation after the reheating furnace
1. Reversing roughing mill with hydraulic edger
2. A coil box
3. The 6 stand finishing mill
4. The laminar cooling section
5. Coiler
6. Coil transport system

Siemens is also responsible for the assembly and installation of the supplied systems as well as for their start-up.

Tangshan Stainless Co. Ltd., a daughter company of the Tangshan Iron and Steel Group, operates a steel works in Tangshang, Hebei Province. The current annual production capacity is about 2.4 million tons of hot metal and crude steel. With the new rolling mill the company will expand its production spectrum to include hot rolled strip with a width of up to 1,430 millimeters. The new plant will be capable of producing three million tons of steel strip of which 1.2 million tons will be stainless steel.

It is reported that Russian railways has transported 1.331 billion tonnes freights in 2006 up by 3% YoY or by 38.3 million tonnes as compared with 2005. Out of these 112.7 million tonnes of freights was transported in December 2006 up by 4.5% YoY.

The freight handled includes following commodities

Volume in million tonnes
Change is wrt 2005

Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc has reported that sales for the Q 4 of 2006 rose by 33% to a record USD 55.8 million as compared with USD 42.0 million in the same period of 2005. Fourth quarter 2006 net income rose by 80% to a record USD 6.4 million as compared with net income of USD 3.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2005.

For the full year 2006, sales rose by 20% YoY to a record USD 203.9 million as compared with USD 170.0 million in 2005. Net income for 2006 increased by 58% YoY to a record USD 20.6 million as compared with $13.1 million for 2005.

Mr Mac McAninch chairman and CEO said that "We achieved record results in the fourth quarter of 2006 as we have each quarter this year due to the strength of our niche markets coupled with our targeted investments in capital equipment and personnel, which have enabled us to take advantage of market opportunities. Substantial aerospace demand continued to be the major force driving our growth in the fourth quarter accompanied by increased year over year sales to the petrochemical and power generation markets. In fact, the sizeable increase in our fourth quarter forger sales was for billet product to be used for power generation applications. While our sales of tool steel slowed in the second half of 2006, we view this as temporary because of the favorable outlook for heavy equipment manufacturers later in 2007."

Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc headquartered at Bridgeville in Pennsylvania manufactures and markets a broad line of semi-finished and finished specialty steels, including stainless steel, tool steel and certain other alloyed steels.

Canadian FNX Mining Company is expecting to increase its annual production of ore shipped to CVRD Inco's Clarabelle Mill in 2007 to 900,000 tons up by 42% as compared to 2006.

The McCreedy West mine is expected to produce a total of 635,000 tons of ore consisting of 293,400 tons from its nickel contact deposits and 341,600 tons from its copper precious metal deposits. Levack mine is expected to commence commercial production this month and to produce 265,000 tons of commercial ore during 2007.

West Virginias Miners' Health, Safety and Training agency in its recently released final report on the Sago, has concluded that a powerful electrical storm caused the disastrous methane gas explosion at the ICGs Sago Mine in January 2006.killing 12 miners.

However, the final report on the Sago disaster does not determine how energy from a lightning strike could have traveled 2 miles from the surface to the sealed area of the mine.

It has recommended that coal mine operators take necessary steps to curtail lightning damage. The agency has proposed more and better grounding systems for surface & underground electrical equipment, lightning arrestors on surface equipment and insulators on tracks & other metal structures where they enter mines.

Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety is now required to review the accident and make its own findings as well as consider regulatory changes.

It is reported that Chinas Xian Electric Engineering Co has received a P 424.4 million (USD 8.75 million) contract to restore 42 transmission steel towers of National Transmission Corp, which were toppled by typhoon Milenyo in Southern Luzon 3 months ago.

Xian won the public bidding for the supply, delivery, and installation of steel towers and materials for the damaged portions of the Tayabas-Naga 500KV, Kalayaan-Gumaca-Labo-Naga, Bacman-Daraga 230kV, and Leyte-Luzon 350kV transmission lines.

Russias Outokumpu Technology Oyj has signed a EUR 16 million contract with nickel and platinum group metals producer MMC Norilsk Nickel for the modernization of a flash smelting production line at Nadezhda metallurgical plant in Norilsk. The renewed line will be operational by mid-2008.

The expansion and modernization project includes engineering, all the equipment and materials for flash smelting furnace No 1, as well as installation and commissioning services.

Insteel Industries Inc announced that its earnings during October to December 2006 fell by 25 % YoY to USD 5.8 million as compared to USD 7.7 million during October to December 2005. Its revenue in the quarter also fell by 8 % YoY to USD 69.7 million.

Insteel cited weakness in residential home construction and higher raw material costs as well as efforts by customers selling to the housing sector to reduce their inventories.

Mr Woltz III CEO of Insteel said the company expects challenging business conditions in the January to March 2007 quarter to further weakness in residential construction, increased imports of strand wire and higher raw material costs. He added that the company expects conditions to improve in the second half of the year, driven by strength in nonresidential construction, a gradual recovery in the housing sector, greater contributions from its investment initiatives and a seasonal upturn in demand.

Perus leading zinc lead miner Compania Minera Atacocha SAA said that it posted sales of USD 181 million in 2006 at a 79% increase over 2005.

Compania Minera Atacocha is the 6th largest zinc producer in Peru and the 5th largest lead producer.

LOI Thermprocess GmbH has received a follow up contract for the modernization of a bell type annealing base at the cold rolling mill of Sandvik Materials Technologie in Sweden following the successful conversion of a base to the LOI design in 2005.

LOI was awarded a further contract to equip a second base, originally produced by another supplier, with a sturdy base structure and a new cast diffuser designed for optimum flow conditions by the end of 2006.

Sandvik Materials Technology is a world leader in the production and processing of high quality stainless steel and other special steels.

Swedish zinc producer Lundin is expecting little impact on production from a fire at one of its zinc mines located outside of Askersund.

Mr Stefan Romedahl head of zinc mining operations told local media Nobody has been harmed. It is a machine, which is burning 965 meters down. It can be one of two machines, but we don't know which it is. He said that production will restart in one or two shifts time as the fire would be contained quickly.

It is reported that Severstals Vorkutaugol is planning to raise the coal output in 2007 by 9.8% YoY to 13.5 million tonne from 12.3millionn tonne in 2006.

It said that the drilling is assumed to reach 45.4 kilometer or 8.3% higher prior year patterns and that RUB 4.9 billion will be invested in the modernization.

Vorkutaugol covers 5 coalmines with 4 billion tonnes and in June 2003 the stocks were acquired by Severstal.