JSW Steel has posted 160% increase in net profit at INR 362.15 crore for the Q3 ended December 31st 2006 as compared with INR 139.20 crore for Q3 of 2005-06. JSWs total income increased to INR 2307.85 crore for Q3 of 2006-07 as compared to INR 1525.15 crore for Q3 of 2005-06.

Mr Sajjan Jindal vice CMD of JSW said that steel volume is increased by 28% while the saleable steel is increased by 33%. He added that the captive power generation is at 80% of the total requirement and the captive power plant capacities are also rising.

TATA Steel has placed orders for main equipment, including blast furnace and LD converters, worth INR 1,000 crore, signaling its intent for expeditious establishment of the proposed 6 million tonnes steel project in Kalinga Nagar. The first phase of 3 million tones per annum capacity is scheduled to be commissioned in 2009.

As per report order is placed to Siemens VAI of UK for a blast furnace of 4300 cubic meters along with its associated facilities or auxiliaries, which would produce 3.2 million tons of hot metal per year. This would be the largest blast furnace in India as on date.

Equipment for complete steel making facilities, including two LD converters, two strand continuous slab caster to cast 2,000 mm wide slabs with secondary refining have been finalized with SMS Demag.

The facilities for desulphurisation of hot metal as well as refining of steel will be designed and supplied by SMS Mevac of UK.

TATA Steel had signed a MoU with the Orissa government in November 2004 for the proposed steel plant contracts at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa.

Indian government has cut customs duty on cement, various raw materials and capital goods in a bid to check inflationary pressures and to reduce the cost of manufacturing and infrastructure development. The changes in the duty structure would come into effect immediate

The following customs duties were cut
1. Portland cement from zero from 12.5 %
2. Ferroalloys stainless steel and other alloy steel to 5 % from 7.5 % 3. Calcined alumina to 5 % from 7.5 %
4. Pipes of aluminum, copper and zinc to 7.5 % from 12.5 %
5. Carbon black feed stock was reduced to 5 % from 10 %
6. Refractories to 5 % from 7.5 %
7. Specified raw materials of refractories to 5 % from 10.75 %
8. Primary and semi-finished forms of copper, aluminum, zinc, tins other base metals were reduced to 5 % from 7.5 %.
9. Project imports to 7.5 % from 12.5 %
10. Specified capital goods and their parts to 7.5 % from 12.5 %

The government also reduced the customs duty on inorganic chemicals like halogens sulphur, carbon, hydrogen, rare gases and alkali metals to 5 % from 10 %.

Mr P Chidambaram finance minister said that the inflation rate hit a two year high of 6.12 % in the 12 months to January 6 from the previous week's 5.58 % prompting the sudden spurt in the inflation rate was indeed a matter of concern.

Bhushan Steel & Strips Limited has announced a 99% YoY increase in net profit to INR 717.20 million for the quarter ended December 2006 as compared with INR 360.30 million for same period in 2005. Sales of the company rose to INR 10008.1 million for the current quarter as compared with INR 6687.3 million for the year ago quarter. BSSLs total income increased to INR 10,059 million for the quarter ended December 2006 from INR 36,736.5 million for the quarter ended December 2005.

Mr Neeraj Singal MD of BSSL said that they have had good volume growth in the past quarter at the rate of 30%.with the export growth of about 54%.He also added that better prices from OEMs have contributed to the good performance of the quarter.

BSSL is a major player in cold rolled, galvanized and special coated steel products. It also produces angles and wire rods. It caters to the automobile and white goods sector. The companys plants are located at Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa.

MESCO Steel has decided to go for a brown field expansion in financial arrangement with Stemcor to increase its steel making capacity to 3 million tonne from the present 0.7 million tonnes at Kalinga Nagar unit in Jajpur district by 2010. The expansion is part of its ambitious plan to touch 8 million tonne steel production capacity with an total investment of INR 20,000 crores.

Mr JK Singh chairman of MESCO Steel told media that "We have drawn up a plan to raise our steel capacity to 3 million tonnes. The investment estimated for the expansion is shockingly low as compared to the market standard. We will be having financial collaboration with Stemcor.

Mr. Singh, without revealing the volume of investment needed for the brown field expansion, said that the company would try to mobilize required fund from the profit from its Kalinga Nagar operation. He said the company would get good return in investment as it had location advantage, own mines, buy back arrangement with Stemcor and option of state-of-art Chinese technology.

MESCO Steel commissioned its second blast furnace of 0.35 million tonnes capacity at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex on Monday. Stemcor, which has taken 10% equity in the company, has provided funds for commissioning of blast furnace and working capital needs.

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters has released the average reference prices for import transactions of Fe 63.5% Indian iron ore concluded last week.

The change is with respect to prices posted on January 15th 2007.

The CCCMC reference prices are average prices for import transactions of Fe 63.5% Indian iron ore concluded the week prior to issuance date of such reference prices. The reference price practice is intended to regulate the domestic trading of Indian iron ore and avoid speculation.

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd has bagged orders worth INR 1049 crores for the supply of line pipes. These orders take the Company's order book position to over INR 3500 crores (USD 785 million) including the orders executed in 3rd quarter of 2006-07.

Mr BK Goenka VC & MD of the Welspun Group said "To have such a privileged positioning globally is a sign of honor for Welspun and we look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial relationship in the years to come. These significant orders of considerable value from reputed international players, is a matter of pride for Indian company and we owe these to our credo of 'Engineering Excellence'".

Welspun has established itself as a niche player globally in the high pressure oil and gas segment following its stellar performance in Gulf of Mexico, where the Company successfully delivered pipes for the deepest pipeline in the world. Some of the key pipe supplies in recent past were for PGN in Indonesia, StroyTransgas in Algeria, Saudi Aramco & NIGC in Iran etc.

All India Motor Transport Congress has called off its proposed nationwide Trade Bandh from 20th January 2007.

AIMTC president in a letter sent to the Mr P Chidambaram finance minister expressed sincere gratitude for resolving the issue of limiting the increase of Third Party Insurance Cover up to 70% for the benefit of Transporters in the country.

Jyoti Structures Ltds board of directors have re appointed Mr KR Thakur as MD of the company for further period of 3 years wef April 1st 2007, subject to the approval of the members at the ensuing annual general meeting.

Caparo Group subsidiary Caparo Engineering India Private Ltd has completed the acquisition of the pressings operation of International Auto Ltd from RSB Group.

A press release said the acquisition from comprises sheet metal operations at Pune and Jamshedpur, which have an installed pressed parts capacity of 16000 million tonnes employ 300 people and turnover INR.72 crore per annum. CEIPL already has an automotive sheet metal plant at Pune.

Besides the new acquisition, Caparo is also investing in a 120 acre manufacturing site at Chennai, where facilities include an aluminium foundry, steel forge, automotive stamping plant and a R&D center incorporating a tool and die design Caparo's development in India started in 1994 with a car body panels JV with Maruti Udyog.

The International Iron and Steel Institute have announced that world crude steel output reached 1.239 billion tonnes for the year 2006 representing an increase of 8.8% YoY as compared to 2005. 2006 production is 65.3% above the total production for the world ten years ago and 45.7% above the total five years ago with most remarkable growth coming from China and Asia.

Some of the noteworthy points are
1. In 1996, China produced 101.2 million tonnes of crude steel. By 2001 this had risen to 150.9 million tonnes, an increase of 49.1%. In 2006, China produced 418.8 million tonnes of crude steel, an increase of 313.8% in just ten years.
2. Chinas share of world crude steel production has also increased exponentially. In 1996, China became the largest steel producing country in the world for the first time, accounting for just 13.5% of production. In 2006, this share had risen to 33.8%, just above one third of all crude steel produced in the world.
3. Ten years ago the Asia region accounted for 38.4% of all crude steel produced. By 2001, this percentage had risen to 41.6%. In 2006, the Asia region accounted for 53.7% of world crude steel production.

The region wise crude steel production for December 2006 and year 2006 are as under

Volume is in million tonnes
Source is IISI

But the growth in crude steel production is true only for Asia, which had substantial YoY growth in 2005 as other regions, with negative growth in 2005 have only recovered the production in 2006.

Volume is in million tonnes
Source is IISI

One of the world's largest oil and gas pipe producers and the market leader of the Russian pipe industry TMK announced its production results for 2006.

The total volume of pipes shipped reached an all time high of 3.018 million tonnes and the shipments of billets were 0.320 million tonnes. Shipments are goods produced and shipped from the plants for the sale to third parties excluding intra group deliveries. TMK produced 2.150 million tonnes of steel in 2006

Volume in million tonnes
Share is for 2006

Share of OCTG shipments in 2006 increased by 3.6% to 31.6% and shipments of seamless pipes in 2006 accounted for 64.4% of the Company total as compared with 64.2% in 2005. Despite lower shipment volumes of large diameter welded pipes, as a result of the ongoing modernization program, total sales of welded pipes increased in 2006. TMK shipments of industrial welded pipes were 18.1% higher than in 2005.

TMK increased its share of the total number of pipes exported from Russia from 48.8% to 56.1%. The total volume of pipes supplied by the Russian subsidiaries of the company in 2006 to non-Russian customers was 806,000 tonnes, which exceeded the volume in 2005 by 56,000 tonnes.

Mr Konstantin Semerikov CEO of TMK said "In 2006, TMK undertook large scale works aimed at upgrading production and mastering new technologies, and simultaneously increased shipment volumes, particularly in the high value added segment. We are confident that we have the capabilities and infrastructure in place for further successful development."

The Novolipetsk Integrated Iron and Steel Works produced 9.127 million tonnes of steel in 2006, which is 7.8% YoY more than 8.468 million tonnes produced in 2005.

The preliminary figures, in million tonnes, are as under
1. At Lipetsk works in Russia

HRC supplied to VIZ-Stal included

2. Danish subsidiary DaSteel AS

3. Russian subsidiary VIZ-Stal

4. Russian subsidiary Stoilensky GOK

5. Russian subsidiary Prokopievskugol

6.Altai-koks

The International Iron and Steel Institute have announced that the top three steel producing countries in 2006 were China with 418.8 million tonnes, Japan with 116.2 million tonnes and the USA with 98.5 million tonnes.

The top ten countries are

Volume is in million tonnes
Source is IISI

Brazil has slipped from ninth to tenth place in the list of the top ten steel producing countries. It is also the only country in the list to show negative production growth in 2006.

Severstal is reported to be seeking assets in Europe and North America, as well as in fast growing markets in Asia and Latin America to pursue its goal of world leadership.

Mr Alexey Mordashov CEO of Severstal told a news conference "We see significant potential for increasing efficiency and significant potential for creating value by participating in assets in North America and Europe. Mr Mordashov said that despite the industry's migration to low cost countries, Europe and North America remained very strong and stable markets and that the industrial potential of these regions is very high. Mr Mordashov added that it is also interesting to participate in regions with high growth like Russia, Asia and Latin America.

He said that Severstal would soon take part in a tender for the delivery of steel pipes for the Nord Stream pipeline, which will link Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.

Mr Mordashov said some of the deals could be signed before the end of the year and that a 51:49 JV formed by Severstal and Anglo American last October will be registered soon to prospect for nickel, copper and zinc deposits in Russia beginning in the Republic of Karelia in northwest Russia.

Severstal, acquired bankrupt US based Rouge Steel Co and Italy's Lucchini since 2004.

Esmark would combine the steelmaking operations at its Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel at Wheeling in West Virginia with the tinplate mill at the Weirton Steel plant at Weirton in West Virginia, which it plans to buy from Arcelor Mittals US operations. That would put Esmark into the tinplate business and expand its new role as a zinc coated sheet supplier.

Mr James Bouchard, CEO of Esmark said Combining Weirtons high quality finishing assets with Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel would provide a consistent and high quality product mix for Esmarks large customer base.

Chicago based Esmark is a service center, which is expanding upstream into steelmaking by taking control of Wheeling-Pittsburgh and bidding for Weirton Steel plant.

BNamericas, citing according to local media, reported that Bolivia's government plans to seek new partners to mine iron ore deposits at El Mutn in Santa Cruz department. Mr Guillermo Dalence mining and metallurgy minister of Bolivia was quoted as saying that "Another Indian Company is talking with us, but aside from that, as the state, we are interested in looking for better bidders.

As per reports, Bolivian government is analyzing other options since Jindal Steel & Power Limited, which won a bid on June 1st 2006 to control 50% of El Mutn and make a USD 2.3 billion investment, has rejected some of the clauses in the contract.

The report cites anonymous source involved in the process as saying that "There are two or three points where Jindal wants to offer alternatives that don't comply with the list of conditions on the initial contract. We need to negotiate that to define the issue because there are things that you cannot legally alter and if Jindal maintains this stance, there could be a possible breakdown.

Located in Bolivia's Santa Cruz department, El Mutn is one of the world's largest iron ore deposits with a surface area of 60 square kilometer holding some 40 billion tonnes of reserves at an average grade of 50% Fe.

BNamericas reported that German steel products maker Schulz has decided to go ahead with plans to build a seamless stainless steel tube plant in Brazil. The plant will focus on market niches in which large international players are not offering products.

Mr Marcelo Bueno VO of Schulz for South America told BNamericas that construction could start in the second half of this year with civil works and equipment setup, Mr Bueno added that the plant's capacity is still under study.

The plant, to be set up in Rio de Janeiro state's Campos City, will require investment of around EUR 30 million to EUR 35 million, out of which Schulz plans to seek financing for 60-70%, involving international lines of credit.

Schulz's other projects in Rio de Janeiro include a 600,000 parts per year stainless steel connectors plant and special alloys unit and a 6,000 tonnes per year welded stainless steel tube plant.

Japan's Maruichi Steel Tube Ltd reported that worlds 4th largest steel maker JFE Holdings Inc has increased their cross shareholdings. JFE Steel, the core unit of JFE Holdings, has bought 1.97 million Maruichi shares for about YEN 6 billion, raising its stake to 6.66 % from 4.65 %.

Marucichi spokesperson said "We needed to find a buyer for the 1.97 million shares, but we wanted stable shareholders to own our shares."

Osaka based Maruichi is a maker of specialized pipes used in cars and oil wells. Maruichi's current top shareholder is US activist investment fund Steel Partners.

The Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group is targeting VND 33 trillion revenues in 2007 an increasing of 20 % over 2006.

Mr Doan Van Kien GD Vinacomin told a conference at Hanoi that the group is expected to produce a minimum of 37 million tonnes of coal in 2007, 19.5 million tonnes of which will be exported. He said that Vinacomin will invest in several major projects, to achieve the target including bauxite exploitation and aluminum production in the Central Highlands, minerals processing in the central and northwestern regions, and mineral exploration and exploitation in Laos.

Mr Doan Van Kien reported revenue of 27.5 trillion VND in 2006, an increase of 18.9 % over 2005. Its coal production reached 36.8 million tonnes last year.

OneSteel Ltd announced that flooding at its Whyalla plant in South Australia may cut its earnings by as much as AUD 24 million. It said that steel manufacturing at the plant was disrupted for 2 to 3 days and will restart shortly and that the flooding which damaged rail lines will also lead to the deferment of some iron ore sales.

OneSteel Ltd in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange said that Heavy rains and associated flooding caused damage to rail lines, internal and external to the site. Its Project Magnet will be delayed by about a week.

Anshan Steel's Dahushan pellet plant was put into operation and lives up to target in terms of output recently

The plant is designed to produce 4.8million tonne oxide pellet per year and was constructed by China Metallurgical Groups subsidiary North China Metallurgical Construction Corporation. It is reported to be a modern pellet plant with advanced technical equipments and automation facilities.

Prior to this, North China Metallurgical Construction Corporation had undertaken another pellet project for Anshan Steel in Gongchangling.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Chinas Ministry of Commerce last week reported that 14 more countries have recognized China as a full market economy in 2006, bringing the total number of countries to 66.

The countries include Egypt, Kenya, Algeria, Sudan, Liberia, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Mali, Gabon, Niger and Micronesia.

Official of ministry said with more and more countries granting China full market economy status, Chinese companies may find it easier to deal with anti dumping charges. As non market economy status has left China open to anti dumping measures imposed by some members of the World Trade Organization, which sometimes use production costs in other countries to evaluate whether or not Chinese exports are unfairly priced.

China's three largest trading partners including the European Union, the United States and Japan are yet to accord China full market economy status.

It is reported that LOI Thermprocess GmbH, Essen, is adding 3 further HPH annealing bases, 2 heating hoods and 2 cooling hoods to the existing bell type annealing plant of Ornasteel Enterprise in Malaysia.

The Ornasteel plant is used for annealing cold rolled steel strip with coil diameters up to 1850 mm, stack weights of 95 tonne per base and a stack height of 5300 mm in a hydrogen atmosphere.

Ornasteel Enterprise Corp. is one of the largest steel producers in Malaysia and mainly produces steel pipes, cold rolled steel strip and galvanized semi finished products at its Melaka plant.

It is reported that The Shredder Co of Canutillo in Texas has received an order from Chaparral Steel to modify the Newell 120 SHD shredder at the companys Midlothian in Texas yard so that it is equivalent to the TSC 120 SXS shredder system. The equipment will be delivered and installed in the spring of 2007.

The installation is expected to increase the hourly production of the 6,000HP shredding plant, lower the KWH per ton required to process material and save money on replacement castings parts.

TSC supplied the first Newell shredder to this plant more than 15 years ago.

The Guardian reported that Iraqi government has approached Corus to help reopen an iron and steel plant in Basra. Mr Fawzi Hariri industry minister of Iraq met Corus officials on a visit to London as part of a trade delegation seeking international partners for state-owned enterprises.

Mr Hariri, describing initial discussions as positive, said "They were trying to find out what we need. We also listened to what they offered. We are looking at another meeting later on this week to discuss further details.

Mr Hariri estimated that it would cost around GBP 75 million to restore production. He said "All the major steel structures, and the mills and ovens, are intact. The system controls were damaged or looted, which we will need to rebuild."

The Basra plant was built in the 1970s and would be able to produce around 400,000 tonnes a year.

Arcelor Mittal's Mittal Steel Ostrava has increased steel production by 13.57% YoY to 3.063 million tonnes in 2006, 396,000 tonnes more than in 2005.

Mr Gregor Munstermann GD of Mittal steel Ostrava in a press release said "The Company achieved the good results thanks to a high demand for our products, favorable market prices and synergy effects in the Arcelor Mittal group.

Mr Munstermann added that "We have also completed and started a number of new significant investment projects and made progress in restructuring the company and increasing efficiency in cooperation with subsidiaries.

Indonesias second largest ferronickel producer Jakarta based Antam expects to increase its output by 58% to 22,000 tonnes per year in 2008 after its new FeNi III smelter reaches full capacity.

Antams FeNi II smelter can produce 6,000 tonnes per year while the companys oldest facility FeNi I has an output of 5,000 tonnes per year is due a refurbishment later this year that could take six weeks. The new smelter the first to be built in Indonesia in 11 year is located in Pomalaa in Southern Sulawesi and is running at 36 MW compared to full capacity of 42 MW.

Mr Christine Salim sekuritas Indonesia analyst told Bloomberg that "Itll take two to three years to lift the smelter to full capacity."

Antam which is 65% owned by the Indonesian government produced 14,000 tonnes of nickel after the addition of a third smelter in 2006 increased by 90% from 2005 output.