It is reported that Steel Authority of India Limiteds Rourkela Steel Plant has set another record after surpassing the record 2 million tonne production mark during 2006. All major areas like production of sinter, hot metal, crude steel, saleable steel, HR coils, HR plates, plate mill plates, silicon steel and saleable steel have maintained a capacity utilization of 100% or more, which helped RSP in bringing down cost of production by 3.6% even though input prices went up by 8%.

During the period of April to January of 2006-07, RSP has surpassed the previous best annual production in the major areas of sinter making of 2.6 million tonnes, hot metal of 1.8 million tonnes, crude steel of 1.68 million tones, saleable Steel of 1.64 million tonnes and steel dispatches of 1.62 million tonnes. These figures represent impressive YoY growth rates of around 27 %, 27.2 %, 26.6%, 29.7 % and 31.6 %respectively.

The previous best annual performance in these areas had been to the tune of 2.56 million tonnes of Sinter, 1.78 million tonnes of hot metal, 1.66 million tonnes of crude steel and 1.62 million tonnes of saleable steel besides 1.59 million tonnes steel dispatches.

In the finishing mills too, plate mill plates, hot rolled plates and CRNO Steel registered the best ever April to January performance.

TATA Steel, under its ongoing expansion program at Jamshedpur, is planning to setup Indias largest blast furnace of 3 million tonne per annum capacity and has awarded the contract to Paul Wurth and Larsen & Toubro. TATA Steel is also setting up a 2.3 million tonne sinter plant, which will be commissioned by Ontokompu Technology and Larsen & Toubro.

Dr T Mukherjee deputy MD of TATA Steel said that the new blast furnace would have an in built facility of improving the quality of iron ore and would use all the latest technologies so as to improve the productivity of steel. He added that the new BF will also help in reducing the consumption of coal without distributing the yield.

TATA Steel took the first step of purchasing the blast furnace and Sinter Plant 4 with the signing of two external commercial borrowing agreements aggregating to EUR 61.42 million

TATA Steel currently has 7 blast furnaces named alphabetically from A to G and the new BF is christened as H

It is reported that a panel of Indian government and the steel majors have hired JWT to launch a nationwide steel awareness campaign in a bid to boost the low steel consumption of steel in rural areas. The bids for the advertising agency were invited in December and JWT, Bates Enterprise and Leo Burnett were short listed.

JWT has been asked to launch an INR 20 crore countrywide generic steel promotion campaign next month with assistance from consulting firm Mindshare. The objective of the campaign is to convey that steel is a durable commodity and due to its life cycle, it was not expensive.

The decision to launch the campaign was taken at a meeting convened by Institute of Steel Development and Growth. Each steel company will contribute INR 5 per tonne on its last year's sales for the campaign to generate INR 3 crore and the rest would be provided by the Indian government.

PSL Ltd has announced that it has commissioned a newly installed pipe mill having an initial output capacity of 75,000 million tonnes per annum which may be expanded to 1,50,000 million tonnes per annum within this calendar year.

The release said that the new plant was commissioned recently in presence of Rajasthan state government and senior officials of L&T who have placed order for supply of pipes on the company for the Bilaspur to Jaipur Water Pipeline.

The newly commissioned unit shall comprise of both internal and external pipe coating facilities to cater to the requirements of oil, gas and water Sectors.

South Eastern Coalfields Ltd has achieved a record production of 8.6 million tonne in January 2007, the highest ever monthly figure since its formation in 1986. It also regained its position as the highest producing subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. During the month, SECL dispatched 7.7 million tonne of coal.

Mr BK Sinha chairman of SECL said that SECL's underground mines reported a production of 11.7 million tonne during April 2006 to January 2007 accounting for 40% of CIL's total output from underground mines and produced 71 million tonne up by 4.7% YoY.

Mr Sinha added that to achieve this, SECL removed around 71 million cubic meters of overburden up by 4.1% on the figure for the same period of the previous year.

SECL expects to report a profit of INR 1,455 crore for April to January 2006-07 as against INR 1,098 crore in the same period of the previous year.

SECL accounts for 25% of parent CIL's total production of 250m tonne, with a production of around 62.5m tonne last year.

Sinha said SECL's underground mines reported a production of 11.7m tonne last year, or 40% of CIL's total output from underground mines.

In the period April 2006 to January 2007, SECL reported a production of 71m tonne, up 4.7% on the figure for the same period the previous year. To achieve this, it removed around 71 million cubic meters of overburden, up 4.1% on the figure for the same period of the previous year.

For the period, it expects to report a profit of Rs 1,455 crore, against Rs 1,098 crore in the same period of the previous year.

SECL paid a royalty of Rs 544 crore during the period April December 2006, against Rs 516 crore in the same period of the previous year.

It is reported that the SD Eastern Bhutan Ferro Silicon Private Limited, the first ferrosilicon factory at in Phuntshok Rabtenling 7 kilometers from Samdrup Jongkhar town in eastern Bhutan, was inaugurated on February 2nd 2007 and will begin commercial production shortly. The 2x9 MVA ferrosilicon plant will produce about 1,000 metric tonnes of Ferro silicon in a month.

Mr MVK Nageswar Rao GM said The finished product would contain about 70 % silicon, 28 % iron and about 2 % by products.

The company has invested about BTN. 320 million including the construction of substations, pollution control system, and construction of a 7 kilometer approach road from town to the factory.

Kolkata based Manaksia Ltd will invest INR 115.5 crore to increase its aluminum and steel manufacturing capacity. It announced that its 50,000 tonnes per annum cold rolled steel coil manufacturing facility at Haldia is scheduled to start production from March 2007.

Manaksia has set up a 12,000 tonnes per annum aluminum color coating line at its Kutch plant which has started production from May 2006 and has added a 12,000 tonnes per annum aluminum color coating line at its Ota plant in Nigeria. Last year Manaksia shut down its steel galvanizing plant in Nepal and the machinery is now being shifted to the Ota plant in Nigeria, which is likely to start production by May 2007.

Manaksia, formerly known as Hindustan Seals Ltd, has 15 manufacturing facilities at home and 2 in Nigeria and 1 in Ghana. The company is also considering acquiring a company in Ukraine through its Dubai based subsidiary Euroasian Ventures FZE.

Aerospace material supplier Magellan Aerospace announced that it has formed a 50:50 JV company with QuEST Machining & Manufacturing to launch the first independent processing facility in India to cater to the needs of the aerospace manufacturing industry. The new facility scheduled to open in early 2008.

This facility will initially focus on processes for aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel components for aero-structure and aero-engine components.

Mr Jim Butyniec president of Magellan Aerospace said "This is a key step in offering our customers a global solution. We are pleased with our decision to partner with QuEST to set up the processing facility and view it as a natural extension of our existing relationship. QuEST is a dynamic and innovative company that knows the Indian and an international market well, and has the manufacturing capabilities and capacities required to support aerospace market needs."

Magellan Aerospace Corporation is one of the worlds most integrated and comprehensive aerospace industry suppliers. Magellan designs, engineers, and manufactures aero-engine and aero-structure assemblies and components for aerospace markets, advanced products for military and space markets, and complementary specialty products.

BOC India inked a 10 year long term agreement with Adhunik Metaliks for setting up and operating 100 tons a day air separation unit at their steel works at Rourkela in Orissa for supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to them.

BOC India is a member of the BOC Group, the second largest industrial gases company in the world, which supplies about 20,000 gases, and mixtures in 3 broad categories industrial, medical and special gases. The UK parent, the BOC Group, owns 54.8% equity stake in the company.

Usha Martin Ltd has posted a stand alone net profit of INR 28.41 crore for October to December 2006 quarter up by 72.1% YoY as compared to INR 16.50 crore in October to December 2005. Its net sales in the quarter stood at INR 351.39 crore as against INR 315.80 crore a year ago and consolidated net sales was at INR 480.38 crore during the quarter.

Mr P Bhattacharya joint MD of Usha Martin said The third quarter has experienced improvement in operating margins by 2.51% due to iron ore integration. The sale of value added products grew by about 17%, special steel production by 18% and global wire ropes production by 12%.

Mr Bhattacharya added Our capacity expansion of special steel and wire rope products by next year would be 400,000 tonnes, which would reach 1 million tonnes in three years.

It is reported that National Productivity Council team along with observers from Prime Ministers Award Secretariat are visiting Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limiteds Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to assess its functioning for the Prime Ministers Trophy 2005-06 for Indias best-integrated steel plant.

The team is visiting major production units of the plant and will witness a presentation on the achievements of the plant during 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Reuter, citing China government sources, reported that China is considering removing or reducing value added tax rebates on some steel products. This move is apparently accelerated following a US complaint to the WTO over the country's export subsidies.

The report mentions that 8% VAT rebate would be reduced to zero for many low end steel products, while rebates on other products, currently at 13%, would be cut to 5% and a total of 136 customs categories, including steel plate and steel rods, would be affected by the changes.

The reports mentions that the decision to reduce or remove the rebates is likely before the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 18th a draft is circulating among several ministries and would have to be approved by the State Council and that there would be no grace period before the changes took effect unlike some previous tariff adjustments.

Chianhas been tweaking tariffs, credit policies and environmental rules to try and discourage rapid expansion by its steel industry for almost two years. It reduced or removed VAT rebates on many metals products in a series of directives issued from September to December last year.

MEPS has reported that the global prices of flat and long carbon steel average values for the three main regions fell by approximately 1% in January 2007 as compared to December 2006, in line with their December prediction.

MEPS forecast that in the short term, the global composite price will steadily decline to mid year and it expects flat product average values to fall in the EU and Asia and bottom out of US prices over this period. MEPS, in the longer term, anticipate price gains in all regions through the second half of the year with long products figures to rise in Asia but fall in the US and EU over the next few months. It said that a revival is predicted in the third quarter in all regions.

In case of EU, MEPS forecasted that the average value in January declined by 1.7% in line with our prediction last month, partly due to currency exchange rate movements as the US dollar strengthened against most major currencies whereas in Euro terms, the composite price actually increased a little. MEPS, over the next 5 months, expect flat product prices to decline as customers deplete their inventories and long product average values to slip marginally resulting in a 6% reduction in the all products figure. It added that a slow but steady price improvement is predicted up to the end of this year when the destocking phase has been completed in the flat products segment and seasonal gains are achieved for long products.

In case of North America, the January average figure declined by a small amount as predicted in our previous report with both long and flat product values slipping as oversupply continued to be a problem in the flat products segment and lower scrap costs kept long products prices in check. MEPS said that the all products composite price is forecast to be slightly lower into the spring. It said In the flat products sector import volumes are reducing somewhat but inventory depletion is likely to continue for several months more thus marginally depressing transaction values. A seasonal downturn in long product prices in the first quarter is anticipated. During the second half of the year, the composite price is forecast to increase as supply and demand for flat products move into equilibrium and the mills react more quickly to the import threat to avoid massive oversupply. More positive signs are expected from the construction sector in the second half which should improve demand, and prices in the long products category.

In case of Asia, MEPS forecasted that the average composite price in January was slightly below our expectations mainly due to currency exchange rate movements as the US dollar strengthened and flat products price raises in China were partly offset by weakness in the South Korean and Taiwanese markets. It said The Asian composite price is expected to be reasonably stable over the first quarter as long products selling values hold up in many countries and construction demand stays firm. However, flat product prices are expected to slip as Chinese oversupply develops over the springtime before leveling off in the summer. A small decrease in price is anticipated in midyear in the composite figure before rising once more towards the end of 2007 as the peak season for construction progresses.

AFX reported that China's economic planning agency has proposed to set up a joint commission to review mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors in China, with the aim of protecting the country's industry security.

As per report, a research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission has proposed that the NDRC should sponsor, together with other relevant government ministries, a Joint Review Commission for Foreign Investment to look into any M&As involving China's key industries and enterprises.

The research report said the current mechanism for reviewing foreign M&As in China is not systemic and updated, with the reviewing power being scattered and shared by different government agencies which has reduced the intended effectiveness. There had been a series of M&As in China last year which turned out to be eye catching not only for the sizes of the involved local and foreign firms but also for causing allegations that state-owned assets were sold cheaply.

The NDRC is of the view that China should further work out a shorter list of backbone enterprises and leading firms in fundamental and pillar industries which will be put under earmarked protection, but did not say whether China's industry security has already been threatened by foreign M&As in the country, but said that China should move before it is too late to ensure key industries not fall in the hands of foreign capital.

The list of the key industries and enterprises include the military and national defense, power grid and power generation, oil and petrochemicals, telecommunications, coal, civil aviation, water transportation, banking and finance, steel and other metals, auto, heavy machinery and equipment, and electronics.

Colombia's antitrust authority, subsequent to an appeal by Gerdau SA, announced that it will allow Brazilian Gerdau SA to bid for a controlling stake in steel mill Acerias Paz del Rio as long as it sells several assets to free up competition in the country's steel market.

Mr Jairo Rubio chief of antitrust authority of Colombia said that Gerdau can join the bidding as long as it sells assets including a laminating plant and an electrical oven that has a 40 ton capacity.

Gerdau became Colombia's biggest steel producer as well by acquiring two steel mills Diaco SA and Siderurgica del Pacifico SA in 2005. Mr Rubio said that Gerdau would control up to 98% of the market for certain steel products if it acquired Paz del Rio.

Regulators have already approved a possible bid for Paz del Rio by Arcelor Mittal and Brazilian Votorantim. Brazilian Companhia Siderurgica Nacional also last week said that it may also join the contest after it failed to acquire Corus.

Investors expect the government and 6,700 former and current employees to auction off a controlling 52% share in Paz del Rio later this month. The minimum price for the stake was set at about USD192 million.

The US International Trade Commission has voted to conduct full 5 year reviews concerning the antidumping duty orders on imports of welded large diameter line pipe from Japan and Mexico.

All six Commissioners concluded that both the domestic group response and the respondent group responses were adequate and voted for full reviews.

Now the commission will conduct full reviews to determine whether revocation of these orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time after the vote.

RIA Novosti reported that Mr Alexei Mordashov CEO Severstal has quit the car business by selling a 49.3% stake in Severstal Avto to its Mr Vadim Shvetsov GD of Severstal Avto.

Mr Mordashov said "My decision to cease being a Severstal-Avto shareholder is motivated by a desire to concentrate on the steel business, which requires profound personal involvement," He added that the automaker has grown into a large independent business in recent years.

Mr Shvetsov said the deal was closed in late January, enlarging his stake to 58%, while the remaining 42% of shares were being floated and declined to announce the value of the deal saying only that it was closed at a market price. Mr Shvetsov said that Mr Mordashov would stay on the board and that he would stay on Severstal's board.

Severstal-Avto produces Russian UAZ off-road vehicles, light trucks and minibuses, and assembles Japanese Isuzu trucks, South Korean SsangYong and Italian Fiat cars.

Observer reported that UK's leading steel union Community has warned TATA Group that unless it invested heavily in the future of Corus it will face widespread industrial action after Mr Ratan Rata during an interview cautioned that there were no guarantees over job safety.

Community, formerly known as the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, is particularly concerned about the future of the Port Talbot works in South Wales, where it believes investment of GBP 200 million in steel finishing capacity is needed to secure the plant's future, which employs more than 3,100 of Corus's 24,000 workforces.

A senior Community official told the Observer that the union is seeking an urgent meeting for assurances on future investment. He said "TATA can invest in the future or it risks a serious industrial dispute in the UK. We are quite prepared to go to these lengths. It needs to put GBP 200 million into Port Talbot. That's what it paid bankers for the advice on the deal. It's peanuts."

Interfax has reported that a working group of the technical council for the project to complete the Krivy Rih Mining and Beneficiation Plant for Oxidized Ores last week approved a program of measures to launch the initial phase of the complex.

The program will now be submitted for approval to the Industrial Policy Ministry, whose board will discuss it sometime in February or March.

The Ukrainian government is forming a JV to complete KGOKOR. The state will own 50% plus one share in the venture and the alliance of Russia's Metalloinvest and Ukraine's Smart Group will own the rest.

Preliminary estimates put the cost of completing KGOKOR at USD 804 million. Canadian engineering company Hatch is now appraising the complex's assets.

Nikkei, without citing sources, reported that Japans Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd is expected to continue its technical cooperation agreement with Corus Group PLC, even after TATA Steel Ltd acquired the UK steelmaker.

As per report Sumitomo signed a technical cooperation agreement on automobile steel sheet and special steel products with Corus in 2002 as part of its commitment to help Japanese carmakers procure necessary steel for their European factories.

TATA Steel is expected to officially assume control of Corus after the UK firm's extraordinary shareholders meeting this month.

OAO TMK announced that the acquisition of all of the ordinary shares in OAO Orsk Engineering Plant located in Orsk in the Orenburg Region and that its shareholding represents 75% of the authorized capital stock of the company and the authority of the sole executive body of OAO OMZ has also been transferred to OAO TMK with effect from February 1st 2007.

OMZ specializes in the production of tool joints for drilling pipes, couplings for tubing pipes, hydraulic cylinders for mobile drilling machines and provides services for oil and gas companies including Surgutneftegaz, Rosneft and Gazpromneft. OMZ is the only company in Russia certified by the American Petroleum Institute to produce tool joints for drilling pipes in accordance with the international specification API Spec7.

Mr Konstantin Semerikov CEO of TMK said that The purchase of Orsk Engineering Plant is in line with TMKs stated objective of increasing the share of the oil and gas services in its sales. This will permit the Company to offer a comprehensive and integrated approach to satisfying customer needs. OMZ has been a long term supplier to TMK mills. We are therefore very well acquainted with its strengths and its acquisition will deliver synergy of production assets, facilitate growth of high technology products and will permit TMK to expand its presence in the oil and gas services market.

Chinese Iron & Steel Association reported that Chinese iron & steel industry got great achievements on product mix adjustment in 2006 and the whole industry realized accumulative profit of CNY 169.95 billion up by 30.6% YoY.

A total of 81 key statistical steel makers' profit amounted to some CNY 90.383 billion up by 16.28 % of a record high CNY 12.665 billion YoY.

By the end of 2006, 686.056 billion Yuan has been invested in key projects. More capital will be invested in deep processing of steel products and product mix adjustments.

CISA expects that the industry will continue to report rising profit in 2007.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

Taiwan's China Steel Corps wholly owned subsidiary China Steel Global Trading Corp has announced that it is planning to invest in a JV sales firm with China's Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltds subsidiary Baosteel's Shanghai Baoshunchang. The transaction is subject to approvals from the governments.

Mr LM Chung, executive VP of China Steel said that China Steel Global Trading Corp will invest USD 1.5 million in the firm, which translates into a 10% stake of the venture and Baosteel's Shanghai Baoshunchang, will invest over USD 7 million in the venture and hold a 45% stake in the operation.

Mr Chung said We hope that our sales channels will be more stable for our customers in the future; adding China Steel Global handled the firm's overseas sales.

Xinhua has reported that China is trying to resolve steel trade disputes in discussions with the US, the European Union and the Republic of Korea, the three major importers of China's steel.

Mr Luo Bingsheng, deputy chairman of China Iron and Steel Association said that "China has been talking to these countries since last year and we have made legal preparations in case of an anti dumping move aimed at China."

Mr Luo denied that China has dumped its steel to foreign countries at unfairly low prices although its steel exports grew sharply last year. He said that "China's steel exports rose on the back of higher demand and a high price on the international market. The price of China's steel is generally consistent with the world market.

Mr Luo added that "China will export about 10% of its steel production this year."

CISA statistics show that China exported 43 million tons of steel last year up by 109.85% from the previous year. More than 60% of China's steel exports went to the US, the European Union and the Republic of Korea, leading to trade disputes between China and those countries.

So far, 11 countries have launched 27 anti dumping or anti subsidy investigations against Chinese steel producers, involving a total business volume of USD 900 million.

China Minmetals Corporation has announced that it signed an agreement with municipal government of Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, on taking over 100% state owned property right of Yingkou Medium Plate Factory, after which Minmetals' both direct and indirect stock shares of Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co Ltd will accumulate to some 75.67%.

Minmetals set up MYMP jointly with other five private steel makers through regrouping YMPF. A local official pointed out that Minmetals regrouped YMPF when it was in a downturn period, after which YMPF gradually becomes more and more competitive. In 2001, YMPF's sales revenue was even lower than 1 billion Yuan however MYMP realized annual sales revenue of over 6 billion Yuan in 2006.

An official disclosed that as YMPF had held 35% stock shares and Minmetals had held another 40.67% stock shares, Minmetals would hold 75.67% stock shares of MYMP after the takeover and Minmetals would become the major shareholder of MYMP.

MYMP is one of Chinese medium plate mills specialized in producing high strength steel products mainly applied to pipeline, bridge and shipbuilding industries. The steel mill possesses annual capacity of 2.8 million tons.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

IPSCO Inc announced today record net income in 2006 of USD 643.1 million up by 9.7% YoY as compared to USD 585.8 million. The increased earnings are primarily attributable to record sales volumes and higher average selling prices, partially offset by higher costs of production, increases in selling and administration expense, and a higher effective tax rate.

IPSCOs sales increased 24% in 2006 to $3.78 billion compared to $3.03 billion in 2005. Shipment volumes increased 18% to nearly 4.1 million tons while the average selling price per ton increased 6%. Record energy tubular shipments and strong large diameter pipe shipments totaled 1.1 million tons, an increase of 25% over the prior year. About 1.4 million tons, or 33%, of IPSCOs total shipments in 2006 were tubular products compared to 1.1 million tons in the prior year. Steel mill product shipments increased 16% to 2.7 million tons.

Mr David Sutherland president & CEO said "We are pleased to report IPSCOs fifth consecutive year of record sales and production levels. Our challenge in 2006 was to improve on the record financial results achieved in 2005. Our employees and facilities responded with another record setting performance where we were able to increase earnings per share by 12% over our previous record. Our 2006 financial results were very strong and we are excited to enter 2007 with a broader, higher value added product mix and additional energy tubular production capacity resulting from our acquisition of NS Group."

Finland based mining equipment manufacturer Outokumpu Technology has announced that its annual sales grew by 33% during 2006 to EUR 740.4 million and operating profit rose by 112% to EUR 51.6 million. Its order intake in 2006 grew by 52% YoY from the previous year to EUR 1,032.2 million and order backlog is EUR 866.4 million.

Mr Tapani Jvinen CEO of Outokumpu Technology said that "We were able to benefit from the growth in global metals demand and enjoyed an extremely good year. Our customers in the mining and metallurgical industry invested in modernization and expansions, new production plants, and new technologies, taking our order intake to record heights.

Mr Jvinen added Our sales grew by 33% in 2006, which further strengthened our market share, particularly for iron ore sintering and palletizing technologies. We set new records in relation to key business indicators orders, sales, and profits. It was also delightful to see the fruits of our extensive R&D work when the customers invested in our new hydrometallurgical technologies.

Looking ahead to 2007, Outokumpu said it expects the mining and metals industry to remain robust and sees further investment in both Greenfield projects and expansion developments.

AMG Resources Corp. and Alliance Steel Service Co have formed a new JV AMG Alliance LLC, which will operate a full service scrap metal facility along the Mississippi River next to AMGs existing St Paul plant in Minnesota. It is equipped to ship material via truck, rail or barge. It is expected the facility will be open by the time barging is possible on the Mississippi River.

The AMG Alliance facility will be able to process both industrial and obsolete ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Suppliers will include manufacturers, demolition contractors and other suppliers.

Mr Eric Goldstein VP of AMGs said that "This enables AMG to take full advance of our riverfront location by combining our first-rate commercial and transportation capabilities with Alliances tremendous experience and reputation in the Twin Cities area,"

Mr Michael Zweigbaum president of Alliance Steel said that "We are thrilled with the opportunity to secure our own port and to be able to have a partner with such a great reputation in the industry."

AMG currently operates facilities in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Alliance operates an industrial scrap facility in Minneapolis, as well as an auto shredding facility in Dulith. Alliance also is a partner with Re-Alliance on a scrap yard in Minneapolis.

Acerinoxs subsidiary North American Stainless has recently completed negotiations with various equipment suppliers for expansion at its Kentucky factory.

Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH & Co of Austria will supply NAS with a 150 tonnes AOD converter and ladle furnace. The melt shop is expected to start up in March 2008. Melting capacity for NAS will reach 1.415 million tonnes per year with the completion of this project out of which 200,000 million tonnes per year will be for billets.

NAS entered into a contract with Sejal of Japan for the supply of its 5th Sendzimir cold rolling mill. This is a 60 inch wide mill with estimated capacity of 225,000 million tonnes per year. With the addition of this mill, the cold rolling capacity of NAS will reach 846,000 million tonnes per year.

NAS contracted with Andritz to supply its 4th annealing and pickling line. This line will be designed for a maximum 1,600 mm wide strip with maximum thickness of 14 mm. It will be the largest annealing and pickling line for stainless steel hot rolled coils in the world. It will have a capacity of 1.126 million tonnes per year and the first coil is scheduled for December 2008.

Spoornet has denied that it has cut the weekly scheduled rate at which it moved coal to the Richard's Bay coal terminal because of a lack of locomotives and rolling stock.

Mr Molatwane Likhethe a spokesperson for Spoornet said that Spoornet had come under criticism for failing to meet transport targets where Spoornet's rate of moving 1.38 million tons a week was continuing according to schedule and that there had been no problems with locomotives and rolling stock. He said the line had the capacity to move 1.4 million tons a week

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co announced that it completed as of February 1st 2007 its previously disclosed acquisition of the net assets and business of the Encore Group of metals service center companies Inc headquartered at Edmonton in Alberta of Canada. The acquisition was an all cash deal and terms were not disclosed.

It said that current management will remain in place and Encore Group will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance.

Mr David H Hannah CEO of Reliance said We are very pleased to have completed this acquisition and are looking forward to working together with the Encore management team in growing the business. Encores emphasis on specialty long products in Western Canada adds further to our diversification strategy in a robust market area.

Mr Don Dalgleish president of Encore Group said We believe this transaction is a very good fit for our two companies and we are excited about our contribution to future growth opportunities.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is one of the largest metals service center companies in the United States with a network of more than 160 locations in 37 states and Belgium, Canada, China and South Korea.

Russias metals giant Norilsk Nickel in a release said that that it has started working on a project to create Russia's largest energy holding incorporating the energy assets that have already been acquired and that will be acquired and intends to create an energy holding before the end of the year and

The release said that "Spinning off energy assets into a separate company will help create added value for Norilsk Nickel shareholders.

It was reported earlier that Norilsk Nickel's former co owner Mr Mikhail Prokhorov decided to consolidate his energy assets, developing both traditional and alternative energy sources.

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 and produces 96% of Russia's nickel, 55% of its copper and 95% of its cobalt.

AK Steel has advised its customers that a USD 180 per ton surcharge will be added to invoices for electrical steel products shipped in March 2007.

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

AK Steel headquartered in Middletown, Ohio produces flat rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, as well as carbon and stainless tubular steel products, for automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets.