Steel Authority of India Limited reported that a net profit of INR 1,471 crore for October to December 2006 quarter up by 124% YoY as against INR 656 crore during October to December 2005. SAILs profit before tax at INR 2,234 crore during the quarter also increased by 116% YoY as against Rs 1,036 crore in October to December 2005. SAILs turnover at INR 9,657 crore during October to December 2006 grew by 29% YoY.

SAIL achieved record production of 3.3 million tonnes of saleable steel and highest-ever sales of 3 million tonnes during October to December 2006 with a growth of 6.3% YoY and 8.6% YoY respectively.

Mr SK Roongta chairman SAIL said "The rise in SAIL's profitability and production & productivity reaffirms our commitment to make SAIL a world class company. We are determined to deliver value to all our stakeholders who continue to repose trust in SAIL. For SAIL, the motto has always been growth with responsibility."

During April-December'06, SAIL has recorded best ever production of 9.3 million tonnes of saleable steel during April to December 2006 up by 6% YoY as well as best ever sales recording a YoY growth of 13%. SAIL plants operated at an average capacity utilization of 112% in the first nine months of 2006-07. Production of value added items was stepped up with 76% in pipes, 23% in Rounds & bars, 14% in HR Coils, 8% in CRNO and 5% in plates. Production of value added products has been higher by 16%. This enabled the company to register its highest net profit of INR 4,300 crore for the first nine months period with a YoY growth of 48%.SAIL also recorded its highest first nine months turnover at INR 27,655 crore during the period a YoY increase of 25%.

SAIL release said that The profitability of the company improved mainly due to higher production and sales of saleable steel coupled with improvement in product mix, productivity and techno economic parameters as well as higher sales realizations, in spite of increase in costs and railway freight on inputs.

Essar Steel Limited registered a growth of 47% in total income at INR 2115.49 crore for the October to December 2006 as compared to INR 1441.57 crore in October to December 2005. Essar Steels EBIDTA for the quarter stood at INR 529.44 crore up by 76% as compared to INR 300.67 crore in October to December 2005 and net profit at INR 179.56 crore up by 30% as compared INR 138.44 crore.

The production of flat products during October to December 2006 registered a YoY growth of 14% at 0.755 million tonnes as compared to 0.664 million tonnes in October to December 2005. Its total sales registered a YoY growth of 22% at 0.743 million tonnes with exports showing a growth of 107% at 0.29 million tonnes as compared to 0.14 million tonnes in Q3 of 2005-06.

During the quarter, Essar Steel completed the expansion of steel manufacturing capacity to 4.6 million tonnes at its Hazira Complex in Gujarat. The expansion project was completed in 18 months at an investment of INR 1975 crore.

Sesa Goa Ltd announced that, subsequent to the speculations making rounds, its board of directors sought clarification from the principal shareholder Mitsui & Co, which confirmed that that it wanted to sell its stake. As per reports, Morgan Stanley has been appointed merchant bankers to advise Mitsui on the sale.

Sesa Goa released a statement from Mitsui saying that "As you may he aware, Mitsui & Co Ltd undertakes, from time to time, a review of the various assets that comprise its portfolio. As part of such portfolio review, Mitsui's effective interest in Sesa Goa Ltd has come up for review and discussion, Mitsui is assessing various strategic alternatives for its investment in Sesa Goa, including a possible sale of its stake to a strategic investor. In light of the above, Mitsui asks the board to approve the provision of such cooperation as may be necessary by Sesa Goa's management in this regard."

Mr P Mukherjee MD of Sesa Goa, after a board meeting in Kolkata, where Mitusi representatives were also present, told media persons that "Mitsui has asked Sesa Goa management to give cooperation for the stake sale. Mr Mukherjee added that Sesa Goa board as such has no role to play saying that We are not interested to know the probable buyers and I also have no choice. He added that no time frame has been fixed for completing the sell off.

Both global as well as domestic steel and mining players have been reported to be buying Mitsuis stake and the list includes Arcelor Mittal, TATA Steel, JSW Steel, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, JSW Steel, MSPL etc.

Sesa Goa owns iron ore mines in Goa, Karnataka and Orissa and has clients spread across several countries including China, Japan, Europe and Pakistan. It also operates a 280,000 tonne per year coke plant and a 220,000 tonne per year pig iron plant.

Under Indian regulations, a buyer of the 51% stake would have to make an open offer for another 20% of Sesa Goa.

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd has reported 50.07% jump in net profit for the quarter ending December 31st 2006. JSPL posted a net profit of INR 189.9 crore for October to December 2006 as compared to INR 126.54 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. JSPLs net sales increased by 61.56% YoY to touch INR 1,010.06 crore during the October to December 2006 quarter.

The board has recommended an interim dividend of 120% i.e. Rs 6 per equity share of Rs 5 each. The board also approved the setting up of 6 million tonne steel plant at Angul in the state of Orissa and 3 million tonne steel plant at Patratu in the state of Jharkhand.

In another announcement, JSPL said it has approved the setting up of 6 million ton steel plant at Angul in the state of Orissa and a 3 million ton steel plant at Patratu in the state of Jharkhand.

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters has released on January 29th 2007 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 22nd 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.

JSW Steel has awarded an order for the supply of a single strand continuous slab caster of 1.8 million tonnes per annum capacity for its Toranagallu works in Karnataka to SMS Demag. The supply scope further includes erection supervision, training of the operating personnel and commissioning. Commissioning is scheduled for early 2008.

The slab caster with t a maximum casting speed of 1.85 meters minute will produce slabs with a thickness of 220 mm, with options for 260mm and 300 mm thickness also. JSW Steel will be able to cast micro alloyed and HSLA steels in the caster.

The slab caster will have spring guided, hydraulically actuated mold, with resonance oscillation is equipped with remote adjustment of the narrow faces, enabling it to change slab width between 1,000 mm and 2,200 mm during operation.

Mr VS Jain MD & CEO of Jindal Stainless Limited sees severe volatility and effect of surge in nickel prices in the prices of stainless steel prices.

Mr VS Jain during an interview with CNBC-TV18's last week, while answering to a question on price outlook for SS said that Prices are very volatile, in fact, nickel prices in recent days have gone up and today the market is highly volatile. It is difficult to say how the market will behave. We believe the prices could remain stab.

Welspun-Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd has announced the following Unaudited results for the quarter ended December 31, 2006:

Welspun has posted a profit after tax of INR 412 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2006 up by 415% as compared to INR 80 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2005. Its total Income net of excise has increased from INR 4540 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2005 to INR 7405 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2006.

Maharashtra Seamless Ltd has announced the following unaudited results for the quarter ended December 31st 2006.

MSL has posted a net profit of INR 600.2 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2006 up by 43.8% as compared to INR 417.3 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2005. MSLs total income net of excise has increased from INR 2765.6 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2005 to Rs 3504.8 million for the quarter ended December 31st 2006.

ET, citing sources close to the development, reported last week that JSW Energy has completed the due diligence and is close to acquiring a significant equity stake in an Indonesian mining company as part of its efforts to own coal mines and lower operating costs.

The move is seen as a part of JSW Steels plans to meet raw material needs as it expands capacity to 6.8 million tonnes by 2009 from the current 3.5 million tonnes. JSW Energy will need 6 million tonnes of coal by 2009 to feed its power plants. The company is in the middle of setting up a 1,200 MW plant in Ratnagiri and is increasing capacity at its Vijayanagar unit by 800 MW. The company is also setting up a 1,000 MW lignite based power plant in Rajasthan.

JSW Energy has already signed an MoU with a local firm in Mozambique to conduct due diligence on a 6,900 hectare site that could later be mined for coking coal. JSW Energy has the option to carry out detailed exploration studies and prepare mining plans.

Suzlon Energy Ltd announced that has appointed Mr Andre Horbach as a global CEO of the Suzlon group with effect from January 25th 2007.

Mr Howbach will operate from the global group management company Suzlon Energy BV Netherlands.

Raipur Alloys & Steel Ltd has announced that pursuant to the order of the Hon'ble High Court of Bombays Nagpur Bench, a meeting of the equity shareholders and secured creditors of the company will be held on February 15th 2007 for seeking their approval to the scheme of merger of Chhattisgarh Electricity Company Ltd and Raipur Gases Pvt Ltd with the Company.

United States Steel Corporation reported net income of USD 297 million for October December 2006 quarter up by 172% YoY as compared to USD 109 million in October to December 2005 quarter and net income of USD 1.374 billion for 2006 up by 50.9% YoY as compared to USD 0.91 billion in 2005.

US Steels net sales of USD 3.774 billion during October to December quarter 2006 is up by 8.7% YoY as compared to USD 3.47 billion in October to December 2005 and net sales of USD 15.715 billion in 2006 is up by 11.9% YoY as compared to 14.039 billion in 2005.

US Steel's reportable segments and Other Businesses reported segment income from operations Segment income from operations

In USD million

Mr John P Surma chairman and CEO of US Steel said "Our performance in 2006 resulted in another outstanding year, with record sales, operating income and net earnings. During the year, our strong cash flow generation enabled us to reduce our debt by almost USD 600 million, to repurchase common shares for USD 442 million, to make voluntary cash contributions of USD 190 million to our domestic benefit plans, to make significant capital investments and to double our common dividend rate to 20 cents per share. Our safety performance also improved substantially from last year thanks to the continuing efforts of our employees. All in all, 2006 will go down as one of the best years in our long history."

Brazilian steelmaker CSN won EU regulatory approval to buy Corus Group PLC. The European Commission said a CSN takeover would not hurt competition in Europe because the two have only limited overlaps for semi finished and finished carbon steel products.

The regulators said "However, the parties' combined market shares are low and below a level where the combined entity could significantly affect the volumes or prices of steel products on the market.

The regulators saw few problems in the supply chain, as only Corus produces semi finished steel or long carbon steel products in Europe whereas CSN's European operations, mainly in Portugal, focus on flat carbon steel. The regulators said Overlaps were below a level where the companies could affect either the total quantity or the prevailing price in the market.

EU regulators have already cleared TATA Steels proposed bid for Corus earlier saying that the transaction would not impede effective competition in Europe because the activities of the two companies only overlap to a limited extent.

The past seven years of this millennium have been the most productive in the history of the steel industry, rising by more than 450 million tonnes over the period. This equates to 57% growth in output over the figure recorded in 1999.

MEPS is now forecasting world wide crude steel making in 2007 at in excess of 1.3 billion tonnes up by 5.4% , that the BF-BOF process will continue to increase its share of manufacturing rising by almost 7% in 2007 to 932.5 million tonnes, respectively and a substantial growth in the supply of direct reduced iron in 2007.

In 2006, most steel producing nations benefited from the surge in consumption and Asia took the lions share of the global growth with 75% of the increase. This figure is expected to rise to around 90% in 2007.

MEPS - Global crude steel production estimates

In million tonnes
Source: MEPS - World Steel Outlook

World's 3rd largest steelmaker POSCO announced that Mr Lee Ku-taek chairman of POSCO will meet Mr Roland Junck former CEO of Arcelor Mittal's & currently a member of Arcelor Mittal's management board in Seoul this Friday.

Ms Ko Min-jin spokeswoman of POSCO said that M "They are going to have a general discussion about which areas they can cooperate in the future. I can clearly say that there is not going to be any discussion on the topic of mergers and acquisition at all.

Local media has speculated that POSCO is preparing to defend itself from a hostile takeover bid by Arcelor Mittal. Shares of POSCO surged by 2.04% to close at KWR 325,000 after rising as high as KWR 331,500 won at one point, on the market speculation that Arcelor Mittal may try to take over POSCO.

Foreign investors own more than 60% of POSCO, which could leave it more vulnerable to hostile takeover attempts. It has taken various steps to protect itself from potential unwanted takeover interest such as by cementing ties with friendly domestic shareholders and the relationship with Nippon Steel.

Numis Securities in a recent research note said that the global zinc consumption is forecast at 11.35 million tonnes in 2007 up by 2.6% YoY with China accounting for 30% share up by 6.9% in volume terms over 2006 and that the zinc supply demand balance is likely to finish this year in deficit.

Numis said China has been helping to drive up zinc prices with its high consumption levels as the economy continues to develop. It is by far the largest consumer with the US a distant second place with only a 10% market share.

Numis added that In light of the high prices seen in recent months and growing demand, China is set to launch zinc futures trading in Shanghai to help consumers and producers hedge against risk. However, this does expose the metal to further speculation.

Japan's second largest producer JFE Steel Corp announced that it's considering a broader alliance with the Hyundai Group of Korea and that the two companies will study how they can increase cooperation. JFE said in a press release that "No detailed method or schedule for any expanded alliance has been decided.

Nikkei also reported that JFE Steel and Hyundai Steel Co. are in talks to form an alliance that would involve building blast furnaces, sharing technology on high grade automotive steel and cross ownership of shares to help guard against hostile takeovers adding that ThyssenKrupp, which has ties with JFE, may also help in constructing blast furnaces.

Mr Kang Hak-seo senior executive VP of Hyundai Steel said that "Yes. We're also in talks with ThyssenKrupp. But nothing has been decided. We need more time.

JFE Holdings and the Hyundai group already have friendly relations. In 2000, Kawasaki Steel Corp., the forerunner of JFE Steel before its merger with NKK Corp., offered its expertise on auto sheeting to a Hyundai group steel fabricating firm. JFE also supplies semi finished products to the Hyundai Motor's 26% owned firm Hyundai HYSCO.

Hyundai Motor groups Hyundai Steel announced in October 2006 that it would build a KRW 5.2 trillion (USD 5.6 billion) steel mill to ensure stable supplies for the automaker. The mill will have a capacity of 7 million tons when it is completed in 2011. Hyundai Steel also said it would spend another 2.3 trillion won to expand capacity to 12 million tons by 2015 by building another furnace.

The alliance is on similar lines as proposed recently by Japan's largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp with South Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO.

Japanese Nikkei, without citing sources, reported that Japan's largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp plans to raise its stakes in two electric furnace steelmakers and expand operational alliances and that these transactions are expected by the end of March 2007.

The report said that, under the new expansion plan, Nippon Steel will spend more than JPY 1 billion to increase its stake in Nakayama Steel Works Ltd to some 10% from 7% to become largest shareholder and will also increase its 0.5% stake in Chubu Steel Plate to 5% to 10% at a cost of JPY 2 billion to JPY 4 billion.

Xstrata PLC has put its original offer to the unionized workers at its Sudbury operations back on the table, minus the early signing bonus. Notification of the offer was relayed to the union by a mediator. The union said that talks to avert a February 1st 2007 strike will likely resume today for the first time since the union rejected a company offer January 25th 2007. A deal has to be reached by midnight to avert a strike.

Both sides began negotiations December 11th 2006 for a resolution ahead of the expiration of the current labor contract but last week, more than 1,000 unionized workers voted 98% in favor of a work stoppage if a new labor agreement isn't reached.

Xstrata, offered to raise miners' hourly pay by 60 Canadian cents in the first year of the contract and 20 cents in each of the second and third years. The union wants an hourly increase of CAD 1 in the first year and 75 cents in each of the following two years. Workers on average earn about CAD 25 an hour. The union rejected a CAD 8,000 signing bonus the company offered.

A strike at the Sudbury area mines, which Xstrata obtained when it bought Falconbridge Ltd in July, would compound a global shortage of nickel, which is used in stainless steel and has more than doubled in price during the past year. About 4% of the world's supply of nickel is processed at Xstrata's plants in the Sudbury area.

The CAW workers have gone on strike twice since 2000, shutting down production for seven months in 2000 and 2001 and for three weeks in 2004.

Rautaruukki Oyj and the Swedish LKAB have signed a long term contract for the supply of iron ore pellet for Raahe Works in Finland. Details of the value of the contract or its length were not disclosed. The supplies will begin from April 1st 2007.

Rautaruukkis Raahe site uses around 1 million tonnes of agglomerated iron ore pellets and some 2 million tonnes of iron ore fines in iron ore each year.

LKAB is one of the world's leading suppliers of processed iron ore products to the steel industry and s significantly increasing its production capacity of iron ore pellets in Sweden.

Rautaruukki supplies metal-based components, systems and integrated systems to the construction and mechanical engineering industries. The company has a wide selection of metal products and services. Rautaruukki has operations in 23 countries.

Russia's metals giant Norilsk Nickel announced that its nickel output grew by 0.4% in 2006 to 244,000 metric tons up from 243,000 tons in 2005 and output of copper dipped slightly to 425,000 tons from 427,000 tons in 2005. Norilsk Nickel produced 3.164 million ounces of palladium in 2006 as compared with 3.133 million ounces in 2005 and 752,000 ounces of platinum as compared with 751,000 ounces in 2005.

Norilsk Nickel said "All enterprises worked stably, the company fulfilled its metals production plan for 2006 and the output volumes that have been achieved met management's expectations. Increased output is due to higher metals recovery and lower PGM work in process.

Norilsk Nickel intends to produce 240,000 tonnes to 245,000 tonnes of nickel, 3 million ounces to 3.05 million ounces of palladium and 700,000 ounces to 710,000 ounces of platinum in 2007. It said "Lower 2007 expected production volumes, in comparison with 2006 actual production figures, result from large scale reconstruction work, in accordance with the company's production strategy.

Norilsk Nickel is one of the world's largest precious and non ferrous metal producers, accounting for more than 20% of the world's nickel output, over 10% of cobalt and 3% of copper. The company produces 96% of Russia's nickel, 55% of its copper and 95% of its cobalt.

Carpenter Technology Corporation announced a USD 115 million expansion of its premium melt capacity and related infrastructure at its Reading facilities, as a part of announced USD 200 million CAPPEX over next four years. Construction is expected to begin in late fiscal year 2007 and be completed by mid-fiscal year 2009.

At the core of the company's premium melt capacity expansion program will be an approximate 40% increase in its vacuum induction melting capacity, typically used in the first melting step to produce materials for demanding applications such as high temperature and highly corrosive environments, high purity alloys for medical procedures, and specialty applications in automotive and truck.

The expansion program also includes four vacuum arc remelting furnaces and two electro slag remelting furnaces. These furnaces are used in the production of higher margin products for critical end applications such as rotating aircraft engine parts, high performance automotive and truck engine parts and medical devices. These furnaces will augment the Company's existing 27 VAR and ESR furnaces, two of which were added in December.

The expansion program will also include related annealing, homogenization and other process machinery; associated testing equipment, raw materials management systems, and information technology infrastructure.

CTC expects that the investment will generate approximately USD 150 million of additional revenue from the sale of higher value products by fiscal year 2010.

Ms Anne Stevens chairman president and CEO of CTC said "This expansion of our premium melt capacity reflects the increasing demand for premium alloy materials that is at the heart of Carpenter's growth plan The investment is a continuation of our strategy to focus on higher value materials that have applications in niche markets."

Carpenter produces and distributes specialty alloys, including stainless steels, titanium alloys, and superalloys and various engineered products

Platts reported last week that US ferrous scrap prices are expected to surge in early February for the third straight month and that as a result that US mills may soon be paying as much as USD 50 per long ton or more for prime grades than they paid three months ago.

As per report, US steelmakers are in stiff competition with overseas scrap supplies. The strength in the export market is likely to make scrap processors more resistant to pressure from domestic buyers, despite a recent forecast by analysts at Standard & Poor's Equity Research that steel prices and profits are likely to decline this year.

The report mentions that increase in certain types of scrap in US domestic market by USD 20 to USD 25 per long ton in early January was seen as a surprisingly strong start to the year considering the decline in flat products seen in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Baoshan Iron and Steel has contracted with KH based China Shipping Development for shipment of 6 million tonnes of iron ore per year for three years starting in April 2007.

Under another contract with a 15 year term and valid from 2010, the company plans to use several its vessels to carry iron ore between Australia and China.

Chinese mills are seeking term shipping deals to help avoid volatile spot shipping rates, which make it difficult to predict and manage costs.

Australian Access Economics warned that, Western Australia is experiencing extraordinary growth and its residents are living through the biggest boom they have ever seen and probably the biggest they will ever see, but it will not last as all booms must come to an end.

Mr Chris Richardson director of Access Economics said "That's not going to happen soon, but it will eventually happen and that will slow WA at some stage." He predicts that will happen in 2009, when the resources boom finally runs out of steam.

Mr Richardson said that this will have an impact on the whole economy of WA.

USs department of justice had given Mittal Steel only until last Sunday to divest itself of a steel making facility in Canada or US as a condition to approve Mittal Steels takeover of Arcelor last year. There's still no final word from Mittal Steel and now the action by department of justices remains to be seen.

7 News reported that justice department does not expect an announcement immediately as they are waiting on a district court to issue a final judgment in the case and they will get five days after that.

With Dofasco out of bound, the list has been narrowed down to just Weirton and Sparrows Point with Weirton appearing to be the likely candidate for whom Mittal Steel has signed a non binding MoU with Esamrk steel.

1. China's crude stainless steel output topped the world list, posting over 5 million ton and import of stainless steel products declined by 20% YoY while the export surged by 75% YoY.

2. A number of state of the art steelmaking and HR strip projects came on stream including Lianzhong (Guangzhou) Stainless Steels 600,000 tonnes per year HR SS line, ZPSSs 600,000 tonnes per year HR line and smelting unit and Taigangs new SS facility etc.

3. Baosteel and Taigang Stainless both ranked into the world top ten in terms of output, each boasting over 1 million tons annually.

4. The 2nd International Ferrite Stainless Steel Conference aimed to promoting ferrite Stainless, held at Foshan in Guangdong Province March 26th to March 28th 2006, was attended by more than 300 world's largest manufactures, consumers and experts.

5. The stainless steel pipeline development committee held 2006 Beijing thin wall stainless steel pipeline forum in Beijing July 4th 2006.

6. Stainless steel branch reelected BaoSteel as the president member unit with Mr Liu An GM of BaoSteel's SS branch as the director. Eight deputy directors are from Taigang, Ningbo Baoxin Stainless, Dongbei Special Steel and Minmetals etc.

7. The 2nd Beiing International Duplex Stainless Steel Conference was held by CSSC, Nickel Institute and IMOA during November 23rd to November 24th 2006 and attendees included 150 Chinese and foreign manufactures consumers and experts.

8. A stream of new products were developed and applied in Beijing Olympics projects. BaoSteel SS branch tapped 27 new specifications for automotive and railway usage etc as well as SUS 444 and 434, 439 ferrite stainless and 2205 duplex stainless. Taigang newly made Cr13 TKJF-2 and austenitic TKJA-1, T91 boiler steel and S275NL. Panzhihua Steel developed 2Cr 25N stainless pipe.

9. Jinchuan Group recorded over 100,000 tonnes annual nickel and plans to make as much as 150,000 tonnes by 2010.

10. Zhejiang Jiuli Group built the nation's largest steel extrusion line with imported advanced facilities.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Japan's largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp, which bolstered its capital tie ups with overseas steelmakers including South Korea's POSCO last year, hopes to establish a cooperative relationship with the world's biggest steelmaker Arcelor Mittal. Mr Akio Mimura president of Nippon Steel in a recent interview said that Nippon Steel will begin talks with Mittal on how to establish a system for joint manufacturing in Europe and China.

Mr Mimura and Mr LN Mittal president & CEO of Arcelor Mittal, when Mittal Steel acquired the Arcelor in which Nippon Steel has a partnership for producing steel sheets for automobiles, agreed the partnership should remain in place.

Mr Mimura also said that Nippon Steel will continue to seek such ties with more foreign producers but said no to its willingness to merge or integrate management with other Japanese steelmakers adding that Japanese makers are posting record high earnings and thus will not give up their sovereignty.

It is reported that a gas explosion in Yile Coal Mine located at the Shuitang Town of Panxian County in Guizhou Province a killed at least 15 miners and rescuers were searching for a missing miner. 25 miners were working underground when the blast occurred and only 9 managed to escape.

After the explosion, the ceiling of the tunnel collapsed hampering rescuers who were looking for the final missing miner.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation and the mine owner was taken into custody.

The mine has an annual output capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

Shandong Province based Laiwu Steel has unveiled the targets for 2007.

1. Annual sales income is set to reach CNY 45 billion

2. Pre tax profits of CNY 4.8 billion

3. Net profit of CNY 2.5 billion

4. Crude steel output of 11.1 million tonnes

5. Pig iron output of 10.25 million tonnes

6. Steel products output of 10.87 million tonnes

7. The subsidiaries should further advance profitability to ensure preservation and increase in asset value.

8. Big casualties, conflagration, facility, traffic and environment pollution accidents should be prevented.

9. Per capita income of the working staff will be increased properly.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Australias diversified industrial group Wesfarmers Ltd has delivered a mixed performance for October to December quarter from its coal division with a 10.6% YoY increase in metallurgical coal output amounting to 1.61 million tonnes from its flagship Curragh mine overshadowed by production shortfalls at its other operations.

Wesfarmers said that maintenance shutdowns, increased overburden movement and port congestion has taken its toll on the Premier operation in Western Australia and the Bengalla mine in New South Wales. Wesfarmers said "During the quarter, mining operations moved into a less production section of the mining sequence, and port congestion caused on-site stockpiles to be full which constrained coal production."

Wesfarmers produced 0.744 million tonnes of thermal coal from Premier during the quarter a 24.9% YoY decrease as compared to 0.991 million tonnes in October to December 2005 quarter. Production of steam coal from the Bengalla operation came in at 0.573 million tonnes a 30.2% YoY as compared to 0.821 million tonnes in October to December 2005.

Wesfarmers expects to produce up to 6.5 million tonnes of coal from Curragh during the 2007 financial year.

South Korea's 2nd largest steelmaker Hyundai Steel Co said that its net profit declined by 54% YoY to KWR 474 billion in 2006 while operating income increased by 17% YoY to KWR 592 billion on sales of KRW 5.48 trillion.

Hyundai said that it is aiming to boost sales to KRW 6.45 trillion in 2007 on the back of increased steel output from a newly acquired plant. It added that operations at one of the two hot rolled coil mills it took over in 2004 will normalize this year which will help boost sales.

Hyundai Steel is an arm of Hyundai Motor Group, which acquired the steel making facility from Hanbo Iron & Steel Co.

It is reported that South African gold majors AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold may say that their quarterly profit suffered from rising steel prices and other operating costs.

Steel prices rose by about 27% in the first nine months of the year for the mining industry, which used 153,750 tonnes of the metal over that period to construct underground railways and shafts.