Steel Authority of India Ltd achieved record production of 3.318 million tonnes of saleable steel up by 6% YoY, highest ever sales of 3.014 million tonnes up by 8% YoY and best ever techno economic parameters during October to December quarter of 2006-07 despite many of its production facilities under modernization. SAILs sold 2.9 million tonnes of steel in the domestic market during Q3 an increase of 10.4% YoY.

SAIL achieved sales of record 8.412 million tonnes during April to December 2006 period up by 13% YoY with domestic sales accounting for 8.013 million tonnes up by 13%YoY. SAIL plants operated at an average capacity utilization of 112%, producing 9.328 million tonnes of saleable steel an increase of 6% YoY during April to December 2006 period. Its production of rounds & bars, medium structural, HR coils and plates recorded a YoY growth of 23%, 15%, 14% and 5% respectively during the period.

SAIL also achieved major improvements in the main techno-economic parameters like coke rate, blast furnace productivity and energy consumption during Q3. Coke rate at 533 kilogram per tonne of hot metal was 2.6% lower, blast furnace productivity at 1.55 tonnes per cubic meter per day was 6% higher and energy consumption was lower by 2.1% at 7.06 Giga calories per tonne of crude steel.

The price monitoring committee set up by the steel ministry in association with the industry has called for greater transparency in the pricing decisions of companies essentially to protect the interest of small consumers rather than setting up a regulating mechanism for domestic prices.

The committee has asked steel companies to evolve a standard reporting system, where decisions on spot prices are communicated quickly to consumers.

As per reports, the committee has also asked the domestic steel makers to apprise the government of the trends in prices and spot prices of various metal products.

TATA Steel has posted production of 3.66 million tonne saleable steel during April to December 2006 period up by 11%YoY and sales of 3.532 million tonnes up by 11.7% YoY. TATA Steel produced 4.1 million tonnes of hot metal and 3.7 million tonnes of crude steel during this period.

As per company release its sale of long products in the domestic market increased by 30%, with sale of TATA Tiscons increasing by 50% resulting in TATA Steel market share to increase to 9% in the rebar segment in April to December 2006 as compared to the corresponding period last year. TATA Steel is the first steel company in India to start selling rebar by length, which is how customer uses rebar there by cutting down on cost at his end.

The release adds that the cumulative volume of TATA Shaktee sold since its brand launch is expected to reach 1 million Tonne in March 2007 up with YTD sale being higher by 4.5% YoY.

TATA Steel said that its market share in domestic automotive segment is expected to be 43% in 2006-06 as against 41% in 2005-06 and which in terms of volume, would translate into increase in sales to approximately 0.85 million tonnes in 2006-07 as against 0.67 million tonnes in 2005-06 reporting a YoY growth of 29%.

Hindustan Times citing highly placed investment banking sources has reported that Arcelor Mittal, Rio Tinto, CVRD, Sterlite Ltd and MSPL are in the race to acquire the controlling stake in Sesa Goa Ltd and have submitted their non binding bids to their investment banker JM Morgan Stanley.

The report mentions that the bids received put Sesa Goas worth in the range of INR 7,500 crore to INR 8,500 crore, as against its current market capitalization of around of INR 5,892 crore, which has climbed substantially in last 2 weeks. Besides acquiring the 51% stake from Mitsui, the acquirer would have to make a mandatory open offer for 20% stake in the company under the SEBI takeover code.

As per earlier reports, Mitsui, which owns 51% stake in Sesa Goa, has decided to divest its entire holding. Sesa Goa is one of the largest exporters of iron ores in the country and has extractable reserve of over 150 million which can be increased significantly. Its iron ores reserves are located in Goa, Karnataka and Orissa and it is currently exporting around 10 million tonnes of ores annually.

Besides the Mitsui, some of the leading institutional investors include Genesis and California Public Employees Retirement System with 17.4% stake and Indian mutual funds and insurance companies together have about 10% holding in the company.

Coal India Ltd has launched an e-booking scheme that will enable it to sell coal at premiums of 20% to 30% over the notified prices in place of suspended e-auction system. In e-auctions, the rates used to vary above a floor price. In e-booking, the rates are fixed. As per reports, this is being done as an interim arrangement till a new coal distribution policy is put in place.

CIL said that the union ministry of coal had cleared an interim coal sale policy that classifies consumers into two categories. The first includes the National Coal Consumers Federation, non core linked consumers and state government agencies that resell coal to small users. The other group consists of non-linked consumers as well as linked consumers who want more than their allotted quantity without any end use restriction for coal supplied under this category. The buyers in the first category would get coal at 20% over the notified price and in the second category at 30% more than the notified price.

CIL said the new e-booking system would continue up to January 31, 2007. E booking will be through the electronic booking route where bidders will quote the quantity required, not the price as was the case in the e-auction mechanism and the system will be on a first come first serve basis which will be conducted online.

Over the past few years, Coal India had been using the e-auction route to sell coal to the highest bidders from certain categories of consumers excluding core sector ones like coal and cement. During the current fiscal 32 million tons of coal had been earmarked for e-auction of which about 15 million tons has been distributed. However recently the Supreme Court ruled it was wrong to sell the same grade of coal at different prices, and asked Coal India to work out a suitable mechanism.

Mr P Chidambaram finance minister of India has hinted that the union government may use Indias foreign exchange reserves of $ 175.5 billion to fund modernization and expansions of Indian infrastructure sector including ports, roads and airports. Mr Chidambaram said that "Ive asked the finance secretary to prepare a note on how the FOREX reserves can be used for funding infrastructure."

However, some experts feel that any move to use the reserves for funding long-term projects might have an impact on the countrys deficit and the Reserve Bank of Indias ability to tackle volatility.

Dr Manmohan Singh prime minister of India had said in October that the nation would need as much as $ 320 billion over 5 years to improve ports, roads and other infrastructure.

It is reported that ADAGs Reliance India Power Fund and Singapore based Temasek Holdings, have acquired a 15% stake in KRYFS Power Component for an undisclosed amount.

KRYFS Power Components was established as KRYFS Laminations in 1991 and commenced operations at its first factory in Palghar in Maharashtra in December 1992 and now has another unit at Kherdi in Dadra Nagar Haveli. KRYFS is engaged in manufacturing of transformer cores and will utilize these funds for capacity expansion and diversifying into newer businesses through organic and inorganic means.

Reliance India Power Fund has been set up to invest in Indian power ancillary companies and has made a series of investments including those in Su-Kam Power Systems, EMI Transmission and Ravin Cables.

BL has reported that Mundra Port will expand, to have an enclosed basin with about 16 berths in the next two years and a dedicated jetty mainly for coal import in the Special Economic Zone adjacent to the port off the Gulf of Kutch.

In order to develop the basin, the company will undertake dredging along the coast and the enclosed basin would provide better operational convenience in the long run These 16 new berths will not be open to the sea and the vessels will have only one entry with a minimum draft of 17 meter.

Captain Sandeep Mehta president of Mundra Port and SEZ told Business Line that Adani Group would invest about INR 2,000 crore initially on this expansion program, which would enable it to handle 50 million tonnes of cargo annually by the year 2010 and 100 million tonnes by 2015

Mundra port, being run by the Adani Group's Mundra Port and SEZ Ltd, currently has 8 operational jetties and 4 more would be added by mid 2007.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd announced that it has secured an order valued at INR 418 crore ($ 94.33 million) from the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority for the construction of six major electrical substations in the Al Ain sector of Abu Dhabi.

The substations will come up at Al Muthredh, Al Mezyad South. Al Dhaher South, New Al Qua'a, Al Qattara and Civic Centre to reinforce the regions power distribution network and help to meet the increased demands for power in the region.

Each substation consists of 33kilovolt gas insulated switchgear, 11KV air insulated switchgear, 15MV per annum 33/11 IV transformers, substation control and monitoring system, protection and telecommunication system, DC System and auxiliaries. According to the terms of the contract the Company will supply and install 33/11 KV primary substations to the specifications of the international consultant Mott MacDonald. The contract also encompasses design and installation of utilities such as air conditioning and lightening systems. The project, which includes design and construction of civil building and over 120 kilometer of 33KV cabling, will be completed within 18 months.

National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology is organizing a national seminar on challenges and opportunities in the secondary steel sector under the Ministry of Steel and the Steel Manufacturers Association of Kerala during 20th to 21st January 2007.

About 200 delegates, mostly from the southern States and Goa are expected to participate in the seminar. Leading faculties drawn from the industry, institutions and allied fields will present papers in the seminar, covering a wide spectrum of topics and government officials are expected to interact with industrialists about the problems faced by them.

Jayaswals Neco Ltd has announced with reference to the earlier announcement regarding suspension of operations in one of its plants situated at Butibori in Nagpur, that the power supply to the plant has since been restored under the directions of the competent authority of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

Accordingly the normal operations of the said plant have been restarted from December 27th 2006.

With reference to the news item "Lanco bags Rs 565 crore Karnataka road contract", Lanco Infratech Ltd has clarified that its subsidiary Lanco Kondapalli Power Pvt Ltd bid for the Bangalore, Hoskote, Mudbagal Road Work on Build, Operate and Transfer basis and emerged as the lowest bidder and on the receipt of the official communication in this regard, immediately the same would be intimated.

It has been reported by MarketWatch that Credit Suisse downgraded the steel sector to underweight from market weight, saying steel markets are getting tougher in both the US and Europe. Credit Suisse cited rising imports from Asia, where steel is around $150 to $200 a tonne cheaper than Western prices.

It said The European steel market looks fine for now but will likely see problems in three to six months. Inventory is rising but most importantly having seen prices equalize with the US and Europe is already seeing major tonnage of imports.

Russian Federal State Statistics Service has reported that, Russia raised crude steel output by 7%YoY in January to November to 64.53 million tonnes. Its converter steel output rose by 6.6% to 38.08 million tonnes and EAF output grew up by 10.2% to 13.65 million tonnes.

Rosstat said that steel production is increased by 3.8% at Severstal, by 8.9% at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, by 8.3% at Novolipetsk Steel, by 9.7% at Novokuznetsk Iron & Steel Works, by 3.7% at Oskol Electrometallurgical Combine, by 32.6% at West Siberian Iron & Steel Works, by 7.2% at the Chusovoi Steel Works, by 5.7% at Chelyabinsk Iron & Steel Works and by 1.1% at Urals Steel but fell by 0.2% at Nizhny Tagil Iron & Steel Works.

ThyssenKrupp has announced that its Electrolytic coating line EBA 2 in Duisburg-Beeckerwerth has been put back into operation and that the first coil was produced 8 days ahead of schedule on 20thDecember 2006.

EBA 2 was damaged due to a fire and reconstruction was completed in the record time of 9 months after approval a reconstruction strategy in March 2006.

EBA 2 specializes in extremely high quality products for the auto industry, such as thin film coated sheet.

Australian Admiralty Resources NL announced they have signed an eight month iron ore sales deal with Wuhan Iron and Steel Co worth $65 million for supply of 940,000 tonnes of iron ore from its Chilean mine through the Caleta port in Caldera between February 15 and September 30.

The agreement has also set out the terms and conditions to be negotiated for a longer term agreement beyond September this year.

Mr Phillip Thomas MD of Admiralty Resources said that the sale was arranged through Itochu Corp.

Admiralty Resources is a listed company with diversified mineral interests in Australia, Chile and Argentina. The company's main focus is on the development of the Santa Barbara iron ore mines in Chile and the Rincon Salar in Argentina. Admiralty Resources NL acquired a 49% interest in the Sociedad Contractual Minera Santa Barbara iron ore mines with estimated resource of at least 41 million tonnes of iron ore with an iron content range of 60% to 67%.

Harbinger Capital Partners, shareholder of Ryerson Inc, announced that it has nominated seven executives for the board of the Ryerson Inc claiming that the company's performance has lagged behind that of its rivals.

The notice also states that the Harbinger funds intend to offer proposals at the 2007 Annual Meeting to repeal any amendments to Ryerson's bylaws adopted by Ryerson's Board of Directors after January 1st 2006 and to amend Ryerson's bylaws to provide that the Board of Directors shall consist of not fewer than six or more than ten directors.

Ryerson Inc has confirmed that it has received notice from Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd and Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund LP seeking to nominate seven individuals for election to Ryerson's Board of Directors at its 2007 Annual Meeting of shareholders to replace a majority of the existing Board of Directors of Ryerson Inc.

Harbinger, a closely held investor in high yield debt and distressed securities, owns 9.7% of Chicago based Ryerson.

Ryerson Inc. is a leading distributor and processor of metals in North America, with 2005 revenues of $5.8 billion. The company services customers through a network of service centers across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, China and India.

Inco Ltd. shareholders approved the final sale shares to Brazil's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, clearing the way for the completion of a C$19.4 billion ($16.55 billion) takeover of the Canadian nickel producer.

Companhia Vale do Rio Doce announced that, at the special meeting of shareholders of Inco Limited held earlier in Toronto shareholders overwhelmingly approved the amalgamation of Inco with Itabira Canada Inc which is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of CVRD.

Pursuant to the amalgamation, Inco will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CVRD and change its name to "CVRD Inco Limited". Inco and Itabira Canada intend to file articles of amalgamation, which will become effective on January 4th 2007.

CVRD said that an application has been made for the de listing of Inco's shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange. Inco expects to suspend its reporting obligations with the US Securities and Exchange Commission effective tomorrow and is applying to cease to be a reporting issuer under Canadian securities laws.

AK Steel has advised its customers that a $180 per ton surcharge will be added to invoices for electrical steel products shipped in February 2007. February 2007 surcharges for the broad range of stainless steel products that AK Steel produces can be found on the company's web site at www.aksteel.com.

AK Steel's surcharges are based on reported prices for raw materials and energy used to manufacture the products, with the December 2006 purchase cost used to determine the February 2007 surcharges.

Steel Trade Today had published Region wise crude steel production estimates for 2006 and Country wise crude steel production estimates for 2006 on January 1st 2006.

It is clarified that these estimates are not from International Iron and Steel Institute.

The estimation has been done by STT assuming the level of crude steel out put in December 2006 at levels similar to that of November 2006 with IISI figures for crude steel production during January to November 2006.

The yearly figures from IISI are expected in the 3rd week of January.

IranMania has reported that Irans steel output rose by 20% in 2006 and that over 10.5 million tons of steel was produced last year, when the country imported 6.5 million tons of the products and 1.6 million tons of steel was exported in 2006.

Mr Taqi Bahrami head of Association of Iranian Steel Producers told Fars that Domestic steel consumption stood at 17 million tons last year, showing a 13% increase against the previous years figure. We hope that steel production would increase by 20%in 2007 and the country is expected to produce 13 million tons of steel in 2007.

Mr Taqi Bahrami said that some foreign countries are trying to capture Irans steel market using dumping policies. He criticized import of substandard steel, stressing that imports come at a time when there is adequate domestic steel production capacity.

BNamericas has reported that long products are set to enjoy a better 2007 than flat products due to demand from Brazil's civil construction segment, although though both will see increased usage.

Mr Rodrigo Ferraz mining and metals analyst with brokerage Brascan Corretora told BNamericas that decreasing interest rates and a better credit offering to the population, in addition to new measures, to be announced soon by the federal government, are due to benefit the civil construction sector. He said "I believe long steel demand could grow 6.4% in 2007.

Flat steel is also expected to see positive demand within Brazil because of increasing automobile sales.

It is reported that construction of Khorramshahr Steel and Iron Complex was launched in presence of Mr Masoud Mir Kazemi Irans commerce Minister on Wednesday.

Mr Kazemi said that the construction work on Khorramshahr Steel and Iron Complex as a valuable stride towards development of the region and providing job opportunities.

Khorramshahr Steel and Iron Complex will be built on 2,500 hectares of land at a cost of 4,000 billion rials by Ahvaz Hot Rolled Steel and Pipe Company. The final capacity of the project is 2 million tons of steel products.

According to data released recently by American Iron and Steel Institute production by US steelmakers was about 1.64 million net tons for the week ended December 30th 2006, down by about 9.8% WoW from the 1.81 million net tons produced for the week ending December 23rd 2006.

As per the release, USs adjusted year to date production through December 30th 2006 was 105,114,000 tons, at a capability utilization rate of 85.3%. That is a 2.5% increase from the 102,524,000 tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 85%.

AISI is a Washington DC based nonprofit association of North American companies involved in the iron and steel industry and its data is based on reports from companies representing about 75% of the US's raw steel capacity.

Admiralty Resources Ltd announced that its Chilean joint venture, Cia Minera Santa Barbara, has finalized the application process to develop a cape size port at Punta Alcalde in Huasco Bay, 60 kilometers from its mines at Japonesa in northern Chile.

Admiralty said it has received interest from a number of Chinese and US port construction groups in forming a JV to fund and operate the $30 million port development. It said the target for completion is January 2009, subject to finalization of financing facilities expected early this year.

Admiralty said the port development will reduce the transport cost per ton by more than $8 per ton and reduce shipping prices by up to $5 per ton by allowing the use of cape size vessels rather than Panamax ships. The company said as result, profit will increase by $46.8 million based on 3.6 million tons of production.

Richmond based coal company Massey Energy said that it has signed a new one year employment agreement with Mr Don Blankenship as CEO on the old terms and compensation.

Mr Bobby Inman chairman of compensation committee wrote in a letter to Mr Blankenship said "I am very pleased that you will continue your leadership of Massey and look forward to the productive year ahead."

Nigerian ministry of solid minerals development said that the federal government is now permitting a 100% repatriation of profits and complete foreign ownership of all mining concerns in the coal sector. The report added that some basic infrastructure like roads, deep ocean terminals, rails and jetties had been built in some parts of the country to support coal exploration.

It said the Export Processing and Free Trade Zones were operational and the national electric power grid was already being upgraded to further facilitate exploration of coal deposits.

The report stated that the Anambra basin, which encompassed seven coal mining districts including the three that had been explored to a greater degree, Kogi, Benue and Enugu, had the largest deposit of coal. The report said the Anambra basin also had the most economically viable coal deposit, stretching over 1.5 million hectares.

According to the report, the Kogi coal district, which is part of the Anambra basin, is estimated to have a demonstrated coal resource of 223 million tones covering an area of 225,000 hectares. The Benue coal district, which covers about 175, 000 hectares, has an estimated demonstrated coal resource of 124 million tones. The third district under the Anambra basin, Enugu, covers an area of 270, 000 hectares of the coal basin and has a demonstrated coal resource of 49 million tones. The report put the entire coal resource for the areas studied in the country at 1,487 million tonnes.