December, 29 2007
JSW Steel to invest USD 6.86 million for 46% stake in Geo Steel
JSW Steel Limited has announced that it will invest USD 6.86 million for a 49% stake in a steel rolling mill JV in Georgia to tap rising demand for construction grade steel in East Europe.
JSW Steel said in a statement that its unit will take the stake in Geo Steel LLC, which is setting up a plant with an annual capacity 175,000 tonnes at a cost of USD 42 million. The new JV will raise USD 28 million in debt and balance would be contributed by the joint venture partner.
Sumitomo signs MoU with Bhushan Steel for Orissa project
Projects Today reported that Sumitomo Metal Industries has signed a MoU with Bhushan Steel to provide technical assistance for the construction and operation of its integrated steel plant in Orissa. It will also provide Bhushan Steel with technical assistance for the production of steel sheets for automobiles.
Sumitomo Metal is likely to acquire a 20%to 30% stake in Bhushan Steel as part of an agreement to participate in the proposed project. It will also help its Indian counter part to build and operate a blast furnace and provide other technological assistance.
PM to lay foundation stone for Jindal steel project in WB
Mr NS Nigam district magistrate of West Midnapore district said that Dr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of INR 35,000 crore project of Jindal Steel Works Bengal Steel Limited on January 30th 2008 at Salboni in West Bengal.
Mr Rajesh Gupta VP projects of Jindal Steel said that 4000 acres of land, mostly government lands, had been acquired for the project. He added that there had been no opposition from any political party or farmers while acquiring private land. The first phase of the project will be completed by January 11th 2008.
Mr Gupta said that direct employment in the first phase of the project would be about 3,000, while indirectly it would be about 6,000. INR 270,000 was given to the cultivators for each acre of land. He added that apart from giving compensation to each farmer, equivalent amount of shares have been distributed to them as free gift.
He further added that moreover one person in each land losers’ family was assured a place in this project. Already a primary health clinic and mobile medical vans have started working in the area for treatment of inhabitants in 24 mouzas in the vicinity of which the project was being started.
SAIL SSP inaugurates many facilities as a part of its CSR
It is reported that SAIL Salem Steel Plant has inaugurated many facilities for the near by villages in pursuant of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that aimed at providing facilities and amenities to its peripheral villages in the spheres of education, healthcare and skill development for weaker sections.
Mr BB Singh executive director of SSP has inaugurated facilities, including compound wall with gate, furniture for children and staff, roofing and platform for the noon meal building etc for the Union Primary School at Kankaniyur village in Tamil Nadu and handed over the same to the school management.
He also inaugurated the library building and an overhead tank with a storage capacity of 60,000 liters of potable water at Naickenpatti village of Muduthurai Panchayat in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, an overhead tank for potable water for Kullanampatti village of Arigoundampatty Panchayat was also handed over to the village community.
NTPC to invest USD 3.3 billion to expand capacity
Mr T Sankaralingam chairman of National Thermal Power Corporation said that it will spend USD 3.3 billion or 18% more on adding power generation capacity, mainly coal fired generation capacity, in the year starting April 1st 2008 to help meet growing demand.
India’s government estimates the nation loses an estimated 2 percentage points of annual growth to electricity shortages and has plans to add 78,577 MW by 2012 to help beat peak hour shortages of up to 13% and NTPC plans to raise its output to 51,000 MW in the next 5 years.
Mr Sankaralingam said that “We are trying our utmost to ensure we meet our capacity addition targets keeping in mind the growing demand.’’ He added that it will spend USD 2.8 billion in the year ending March 2008.
He said NTPC will add 3 new coal fired units in northern India by March 2008, increasing its generation capacity to more than 30,000 MW from the current 28,334 MW. He added that “Most of this will be coal fired, considering LNG prices are becoming prohibitive. We have decided to postpone plans to set up new gas fired power projects by 2 years. We believe it is a very wrong time to get into the LNG market. We expect prices to settle by 2009-10.’’
It is noted that NTPC plans to invest as much as USD 1.3 billion on buying stakes in coal mines abroad and is in talks to import natural gas from Nigeria where it is negotiating a contract to build a 700 MW gas fired plant. It is also in talks to buy coal from Indonesia. Out of the total investment, USD 127 million will be invested through NTPC’s joint venture with state owned steelmakers Steel Authority of India Limited, Coal India Limited, National Mineral Development Corporation and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited.
East Coast Railway’s iron ore traffic set to scale new peak
BL reported that major coal transporter East Coast Railway is set to emerge as a big hauler of iron ore.
In 2006-07, East Coast Railway handled an estimated 42 million tonnes of coal or 50% of the total traffic of about 84 million tonnes. The total traffic target for 2007-08 has been set at 93 million tonnes, of which the share of coal will be about 47 million tonnes.
Side by side, the iron ore throughput is poised for a big jump. In 2006-07, the East Coast Railway handled a total of about 11 million tonnes of iron ore comprising 7.3 million tonnes for exports and another about 3 million tonnes for domestic plants. In 2007-08, the throughput is estimated to rise to 16 million tonnes to 17 million tonnes comprising 12 million tonnes of exports and another 4 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes of domestic movement.
East Coast Railway’s coal movement received a setback in the first half of the year as coal loading took a big hit in Talcher mines due to a variety of reasons. Fortunately, the situation at Talcher has improved now and the daily loading at present is of the order of 25 rakes a day. The coal stock at the railheads is estimated at more than 200,000 tonnes, equivalent of 3 days loading.
However, the level of loading of imported coal at the ports is not too satisfactory. At the Visakhapatnam port, coal import for Khaperkheda thermal plant of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board has dropped significantly. Official of East Coast Railway said that “Last year, we handled 20 rakes a month on an average but the average so far this has dropped to 10 rakes and there has been no loading at all in the first 3 weeks of December 2007,”
The daily loading for the Bhilai Steel Plant and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant remains unchanged at 4 rakes each. At Paradip, cargo inducement is adequate, enough to load about 8 to 10 rakes a day. But the problem of East Coast Railway is that it cannot ensure a steady supply of that many rakes to the port for loading imported coal. The reason is that the rakes carrying iron ore to the port for exports are generally used for back loading of imported coal. The port, as East Coast Railway sources point out, cannot handle more than 7 iron ore rakes a day, with the result only that many rakes can be made available for back loading.
MMRDA board to invest INR 3,000 crore for JNNURM projects
Projects Today reported that Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority board has approved the plan to invest INR 3,000 crore for implementing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission projects. Out of the total investment of INR 3,000 crore, the centre will give 35% of project cost, state government will provide a 15% share and the municipal bodies will have to rake in the remaining cost.
It is learnt that around 8 cities in MMR come under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. This includes Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhaindar, Ulhasnagar, Ambarnath and Kulagaon Badalapur.
MMRDA has also decided to implement the Extended Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project and allocate INR 1,500 crore to improve the road network in MMR. The region covers neighboring districts like Thane and Raigad. This project proposes INR 380 crore for the four main roads on Vasai Virar area, INR 449 crore for the four main roads on Mira Bhaindar area, INR 604 crore for the construction work of Dombivli Bhiwandi and Dombivli Mumbra Link Road in Thane Dombivli and Kalyan area, 4 fly over bridges on Thane Ghodbunder road, 3 fly over bridges within Thane municipal corporation area and 5 main roads. In addition, INR 60 crore will be spent on a flyover bridge in Panvel.
BPSCL urged coal ministry for more coal stocks
It is reported that Bokaro Power Supply Company Limited, a JV of Steel Authority of India Limited and Damodar Valley Corporation, has requested union coal ministry for a grant of ad hoc allocation of 10 to 12 rakes of coal from West Bokaro colliery sources in lieu of decreasing quantity of coal from Bharat Coking Coal Limited sources.
Bokaro Power Supply Company Limited owns and operates the captive power plant of Bokaro Steel Plant. The CPP meets the power requirement of the steel plant and is also required to supply steam to the steel plant for operation of steam turbine driven turbo blowers for blast furnaces and oxygen plant.
A senior Bokaro Power Supply Company Limited official said that the linkage fulfillment from Bharat Coking Coal Limited to BPSCL had been in the range of 19% to 20% only since September 2007. Due to extremely poor linkage fulfillment from BCCL sources the stock of coal at CPP has fallen and has come down to one day's stock or even less. Any disruption in the supply circuit will result in stock out situation in CPP and will have severe impact on entire steel plant.
CIL CCL to deployed CISF personnel around its mines
Ranchi Express reported that CIL’s Central Coalfields Limited will induct the Central Industrial Security Force in North Karanpura and Piparwar area in Jharkhand in a bid to bolster security in and around its mines. The new security set up will cost the CCL INR 40 crore annually.
Initially, the CISF will be inducted from January 2008 in the two areas for which infrastructural arrangements are almost complete. On its part, the CISF too has initiated the process of posting some officers from December 2007.
A senior officer of CCL said that the management has paid INR 4 crore to the CISF initially. In the first stage, 400 CISF personnel would be inducted. As per CCL's plans, altogether 1212 personnel of CISF would be deployed in the 2 mining areas.
L&T to invest INR 1,800 crore in oil, gas & port sectors
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro has announced that it would invest around INR 1,800 crore in the oil and gas and port sectors.
Mr K Venkataramanan president operations of L&T said that it would invest around INR 650 crore for building an installation vessel for the upstream sector. He added that it was keen to acquire technological strength in deep water exploration through collaboration with foreign companies.
Mr Venkataramanan said that it would also invest INR 1,000 crore for constructing a shipyard and was also building a port at Sohar near Oman at an investment of around INR 118 crore. Besides the energy sector, it is engaged in the construction of Greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore.
He further added that as more foreign companies would bid under the new exploration licensing policy, L&T would have an enormous opportunity for providing onshore and offshore rigs for drilling. It is coming up with a project management institute at Baroda.
Cement companies escape CCI noose
BS reported that the cement companies that were found guilty of cartelization by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission would have had to pay a hefty fine had the Competition Commission of India been functional.
Under the Competition Act 2007, which is yet to be notified, there is a provision that the companies guilty of cartelization will have to pay a fine up to 10% of their turnover or three times the net profit. If the penalty of 10% of the turnover is imposed on 41 out of 44 guilty companies, including Larsen & Toubro, Shree Cement, JK Cement, the amount comes up to a whopping INR 3,600 crore. And if the penalty of 3 times the profits is ordered by CCI, then ACC and Ambuja Cement alone will have to pay fine of over INR 7,000 crore.
Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission found companies involved in restrictive trade practices and acting in concert in fixing the retail prices of their produce under section 33 (1) (d) of the MRTP Act. It has asked the companies to file a compliance report within eight weeks.
Mr Naveen Goel corporate law expert said that “Under this section, MRTPC can only direct the companies that the practice should be discontinued or not repeated, other than this the commission is powerless to do anything against the companies forming a cartel.”
Mr Vinod Dhall acting chairman and member of CCI, while reacting to the MRTPC order, said that “Had the CCI been functional, each company would have had to pay 10% of the average turnover for the last three financial years, or a penalty equivalent to 3 times of the profits made by the cartel. Under the Competition Act, 2007, there is also a provision to impose penalty of 10% of the average of the turnover of the cartel for the last 3 financial years.”
Mr Prem Chand Gupta union minister of corporate affairs said that “The CCI will be operational by the middle of 2008.”
But till the central government clears the proposal of CCI for staff requirement and notifies the Act, the commission will not be functional. The commission has asked for a staff of 480 professionals, including lawyers, financial analyst and economists.
Tension prevails at MCL site as worker clash
SNS reported that tension prevailed between the Indian National Trade Union Congress and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh trade union of Mahanadi Coalfield Limited following tiff and clash between members of both unions in Orissa’s Talchar district.
Later Mr Srinibash Khuntia leader of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh was arrested and forwarded to court on a complaint by an INTUC member Mr Jyoti Ranjan Sahu. The irate INTUC members stopped activity in coalmines for hours protesting the alleged assault and demanding arrest of the INTUC members in this connection.
Vale cuts iron ore supply to Usipar
BNamericas reported that Brazilian mining and metals group Vale has decided to halt iron ore supply to Pará state based pig iron maker Usipar. Usipar is a unit of local pig iron group Cosipar.
Vale in a statement said that the decision was taken due to Usipar's noncompliance with environmental legislation, which resulted in the Pará environmental department halting the company's operations.
The release added that Vale sent letters to eight pig iron companies earlier this year requesting proof that operations are running "absolutely" under the environmental and labor legislation. As a result of its analysis of documents presented by all the producers, the Brazilian group decided to immediately break iron ore supply contracts with Cosipar, Fergumar, Simasa and Usimar.
Fergumar secured an injunction, forcing Vale to resume supply of the steelmaking input, but the Brazilian group has appealed the decision and is awaiting the verdict.
Vale suspended on December 5 iron ore shipments to Minas Gerais state-based pig iron producer Itasider, while pig iron makers Sinobras, formerly Simara and Viena, presented information to allow iron ore shipments to continue. Vale halted supply to Ibérica for one week, but the pig iron maker was able to prove that operations were running lawfully and shipments resumed.
Cosipar in a statement said that Pará's environment department carried out an inspection at Usipar earlier this month and determined a temporary halt of pig iron output was necessary based on a "supposed possibility of contamination" of the Arienga river.
A state court reversed the halt due to the lack of evidence of contamination from Usipar's operations.
Usipar had an old stock of charcoal on site, prior to deciding to turn the plant into coke based operation, the statement continued. The unit's operation license is valid through April.
POSCO E&C wins USD 66.7 million order for steel making plant in Japan
AsiaPulse reported that POSCO Engineering & Construction Co, the building arm of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO has landed a USD 66.7 million order for a steel manufacturing plant from Japan's Asia Special Steel Co.
Under the order POSCO E&C will supply steel making equipment to the Japanese steelmaker that has been building a plant in Hibikinada, Kita Kyushu, with the aim of completing it by April, 2009. It said that the South Korean builder also will be responsible for engineering, test operation and the supervision of the plant.
POSCO E&C said that "The order paves the way for POSCO E&C to make inroads into the Japanese market.”
Brazilian billet prices continue to climb
YIEH report that Brazil’s export prices of billet are expected to reach over USD 500 per tonne, as the recent price achieved around USD 480~ USD 485 per tonne FOB.
The report said that in recently few months, steel mills have no extra square billet to supply trading company, because of strong demand in Brazil domestic market.
It added that Turkish and CIS suppliers have also hiked their square billet price in pass few weeks. The global market for square billet is getting better and better now.
Statistics of US scrap exports
YIEH reported that US export of H1 scrap was 236,000 tonnes and the export of shredded scrap totaled 502,000 tonnes.
US H1 scrap exported in October 2007 are
1. Malaysia was 53,000 tonnes
2. Turkey was 49,000 tonnes
3. South Korea was 39,000 tonnes
4. Taiwan was 38,000 tonnes.
From January to October 2007, H1 scrap export totaled around 2.69 million tonnes up by 22% and shredded scrap export totaled 3.99 million tonnes with a rise of 451% YoY as compared to January to October 2006.
Explosion in Vietnam steel mill
It is reported that a furnace for refining steel in Hai Phong in the north of Vietnam exploded on Tuesday wounding seven workers.
The report quoted Mr Tran Thanh Hien director of the Van Loi Steel Joint Stock Company said yesterday the explosion occurred when the employees were loading material into the heater. He said that three of the victims were still in a critical condition.
Mr Hien added that the blast was possibly instigated by a fault in the gas system.
Other workers said similar explosions had occurred there before.
Colombia Paz del Río plans to export steel to US
BNamericas reported that Colombian steelmaker Acerías Paz del Río, controlled by Brazilian company Votorantim will market its products in the US once it finishes an expansion project scheduled to start in 2008.
A sector executive told BNamericas that "The plan came about because of Votorantim's program to boost production capacity.” He added that Votorantim aims to increase APR's output from the current 350,000 tonne per year to nearly 1 tonne per year.
Sector analyst Mr Edgar Jiménez recently said that Colombia has the potential to become a net steel exporter if steel projects that are underway in the country continue successfully.
The executive said “APR also called its creditors to a meeting to present a payment proposal, and this week [December 24-28] there may be a shareholders meeting to keep working on company reorganization.”
APR's plant is located in Belencito in Colombia's central Boyacá department. The company has a 14% share of the domestic steel market and contributes some 30% of the nation's steel production.
Price hike pressure on iron ore with tight supply
JMB reported that world iron ore market gets tighter when the supply manages to catch up growing Chinese and world demand.
It added that the miners try to increase the annual contract price when the spot market price surged and is USD 100 per tonne higher than contract price. Strong demand and stronger miners' position could lift the price level.
Vietnam's central iron mine has large commercially viable reserve
Vietnam News reported that a feasibility study conducted by the state owned Vietnam Steel Corporation and Russia's Giproruda Institute shows the Thach Khe mine in central Ha Tinh province has 370 million tonnes of ore at 60% concentration of iron.
The study also indicates that the mine's tapping could initially be carried out in two phases. The first phase would last for four years, with the exploitation of five million tons of ore per annum. In the second five-year phase, it would increase to 10 million tonnes.
Total investment required for the two phases would be USD 327 to USD 378 million.
The corporation has already had a plan on manufacturing steel billets and finished steel products from the mine's ore.
Peru sets time limits on mining investment
Mining Journal reported that Peru’s government approved a bill that will set time limits for mining companies to invest in concessions.
The Mr Alan Garcia president of Peru as saying that the bill, approved on December 26 by Garcia’s ministerial Cabinet, seeks to set a five year limit for companies to produce minerals before paying penalties per hectare of concessions.
He added that the government will strip companies of concessions seven years after that. Mr Garcia said that "Often decades, not just years, pass by without state concessions being used. This bill brings an end to the bad custom of staking a lot of claims without investing any money to develop them."
Peru, the world’s third largest copper and zinc producer is counting on USD 13 billion in mining investments to ensure annual economic growth of 7% in each of the next four years.
According to the Mining & Metallurgical Geology Institute, the government awarded 8,159 mining concessions, totaling 3.65 million hectares in 2007, a 20% increase, as companies lured by surging metals prices staked the largest number of claims in more than a decade.
Vietnam's annual handling capacity up by 12.7% in 2007
It is reportedly the annual handling capacity at Vietnam’s ports in 2007 has reached 177.58 million tonnes, up by 12.7% YoY.
In order to improve the transportation capacity, the Vietnam related departments have carried out many infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, they will also build up seaports special for iron and steel works and oil refineries to load and unload iron ore, gasoline and coal.
Vietnam forecasts December coal output likely to up by 1.3%
According to Vietnam General Statistics Office, Vietnam's coal production likely up by 1.3% to 3,797 million tonnes in December 2007. This is more than the 3,650 million tonnes produced in November 2007.
General Statistics Office revised data showed that Vietnam is estimated to have exported 3 million tonnes of coal valued at USD 103 million in December, unchanged in volume terms but up 12% in value. For the entire year, the country is projected to have exported 32.54 million tons of coal valued at USD 1.02 billion, up by 11.0% in terms of volume and up 11.3% in terms of value.
MFC forges ahead with nickel projects
Canadian business, Metals Finance Corp said that it has continued work on the Palabora nickel project in South Africa and the Lucky Break nickel project in Queensland throughout the company's initial public offer and listing on the ASX.
The funds raised from the IPO and cash at bank will be used to progress the development of the projects.
Metal Finance said that "The company has placed orders for all major equipment items required for the Palabora project and installation will commence early in the New Year, enabling projected commissioning of the project in line with the timeline outline in the company's prospectus."
Metals Finance listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on December 20th 2007 at an offer price of 50 cents per share, only to fall to 46.5 cents on its debut.
It is an international Canadian company providing project implementation and funding for the development of metal recovery projects. The company has two nickel projects targeted to be in production in 2008, these are Palabora in South Africa and Lucky Break in Queensland.
UASC starts construction of 6 high speed containership
United Arab Shipping Company has announced the commencement of construction of its 6 high speed containership called MV Jazan as part of an 8 containership order contracted with a reputed Korean shipbuilder and work on the other five A7 ships was progressing on schedule on timely delivery.
UASC had signed contract to build forty eight 919 TEU containership at a total cost of about USD 850 million. These modern ships, which will be fully compliant with the latest MARPOL regulations regarding pollution, will have speed exceeding 25 knots.
MV Jazan will fly the Saudi Arabia flag and will be delivered in July 2008. All 8 ships under this contract will be completed and delivered in 2008. Above 8 newbuildings will help UASC to cope with the expanding trades and customer demands. UASC's existing fleet consists of 35 owned and chartered vessels and its container box fleet has touched the 200,000 TEU mark.
UASC was established in 1976 with its head office in the State of Kuwait. The company is considered as the national carrier for the Arab Gulf States. UASC works to promote and strengthen economic and trade activities in the region. UASC performs its strategic role to serve the Arabian Gulf in particular, by maintaining uninterrupted shipping services and stable freight rate in the container trades to the region. The company has a worldwide network of agents besides its own offices the Arabian Gulf States, USA, UK and Singapore, amongst others. It also has ownership in many subsidiary companies which are engaged in the shipping related activities.
UASC operates on shipping routes from the North America, Europe, the Mediterranean, Far East, South American and Africa to the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian sub continent. It also operates services in the major container trades between Europe and Mediterranean and Asia.
Saudi oil investments pumps USD 100 billion in 40 years
According to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency figures, Saudi Arabia has pumped more than USD 100 billion into its oil sector over the last 40 years but the investments have largely been offset by crude sales which have fetched it more than USD 1.6 trillion.
The sales involved a total 79 billion barrels pumped out of Saudi’s giant oilfields since it began full crude exports in 1967. Theoretically, such a massive output could have depleted the Kingdom’s oil resources as it exceeded its proven oil reserves of 68 billion barrels in 1967. But the reserves have more than tripled to a record 264 billion barrels at the beginning of 2007 and experts attributed this surge to new major discoveries as well as the introduction of advanced drilling and production technology.
Mr Ihsan bu Hulaiga a Saudi economist said that “Saudi Arabia controls more than a quarter of the world’s oil deposits and officials believe there are lot more oil in deep layers and other unexplored areas in the Kingdom.”
SAMA figures showed the Kingdom has remained one of the world’s heaviest investors in the oil sector as such investments are needed to maintain its fields, expand output capacity and sustain the present capacity, hunt for more oil in unexplored areas, and develop its oil infrastructure. Between 1967 and 2007, Saudi’s oil investments totaled around SAR 382.7 billion. But experts said the capital does not include exploration activities, downstream projects and other sectors associated with production. Experts added that the bulk of those investments covered development of the oil fields to maintain and increase the production capacity.
In 1967, Saudi injected only SAR 2 billion into its oil sector but the investments rocketed to nearly SAR 12 billion six years later and to SAR 14 billion in 1995. They fluctuated in the following years before they climbed to a record SAR 26.4 billion in 2006 and are believed to have surpassed SAR 30 billion in 2007.
Saudi’s sustainable output capacity of around 11 million barrels per day, however, is far higher than that of Russia, which has a negligible spare capacity.
SAMA’s figures showed Saudi Arabia’s income from its oil exports has also been largely unstable over the past decades because of changing output and prices. It stood at only around SAR 39 billion in 1967 but jumped to SAR 114 billion 10 years later. It continued its rise to reach as high as SAR 328 billion during the oil boom of 1981. After sharp fluctuations in the following years, the Kingdom’s oil income soared to its highest ever nominal level of SAR 604 billion in 2006 and was projected to exceed SAR 640 billion in 2007. It put the cumulative Saudi oil export revenues during 1967-2007 at around SAR 6.25 trillion.
Iran petrochemical projects will triple in 10 years - Mr Nejabat
Mr Gholamhossein Nejabat MD of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company, while addressing at a conference on modern petrochemical era in Pars special economic energy zone, said that Iran’s petrochemical projects will have a 300% growth in 10 years.
Mr Nejabat said that “According to the plan, we have vowed to put 12 petrochemical complexes into operation in 2007, 9 had already come on stream and 4 more would become operational by March 2008.” He added that domestic petrochemical output will soar to 98 million tonnes at the end of 2014, fetching the country USD 20 billion per annum.
Mr Nejabat said that the two last petrochemical complexes of the first phase of Assaluyeh Arya Sasol and Jam would also start work by March 19th 2008. He added that USD 15 billion had been invested in the industry since 1996 and USD 12.5 billion had been allotted for petrochemical projects during the 4th Five Year Socioeconomic Development Plan. He said “Iran is to earn USD 5 billion through exports of petrochemical products in the current Iranian year.”
Iran and South Africa had made a USD 1.3 billion investment in Arya Sasol complex with the 2 sides holding 50% share each. It has Mehr Petrochemical Complex, in which Japan and Thailand had participated, Karun Petrochemical Complex that was under construction in collaboration with Germany and Sweden and Laleh Petrochemical Complex that will be built through cooperation of Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Bahrain to develop gas project together
Mr Manouchehr Mottaki Iranian foreign minister said that President Mr Ahmadinejad's visit to Bahrain has opened a new chapter in two countries' relations. In a meeting with Bahraini Prime Minister Mr Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, he said that Iran seeks to promote relations with the Persian Gulf state.
Mr Mottaki said that establishing a high joint cooperation commission will pave the road for Tehran and Manama to cooperate in the political and economic fields.
Mr Al Khalifa, for his part, confirmed Bahrain's enthusiasm over the recent visit by the Iranian president to Bahrain. He added that close cooperation between Iran and Bahrain will boost regional security as well.
In a separate meeting, Mr Manouchehr Mottaki met and conferred with Bahrain's Crown Prince Mr Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Iran's readiness to cooperate with Manama in joint gas projects.
China and Pakistan JV Company launched in Lahore
Xinhua reported that Pak China Investment Company Limited, the first JV between Pakistan and China in financial sector, was launched in eastern Pakistan's Lahore city.
A launch ceremony was held at the governor house in Lahore, marking that the company founded in July 2007 become operational in Pakistan. Mr Khalid Maqbool governor of Punjab, Dr Salman Shah minister for finance and economic affairs, Mr Luo Zhaohui Chinese ambassador and other senior officials attended the ceremony.
The 50:50 JV between the two sides will perform investment banking business on commercial basis in the financial, infrastructure, services, mining, industrial manufacturing and non manufacturing sectors in Pakistan with registered capital of USD 200 million.
Production halted in Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire Co
It is reported that Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire Corporation has halted production at a copper processing unit because of lower fees.
Valin Steel said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that Hunan Valin Guangyuan Copper Tube Co, in which it holds an 83% stake, is unlikely to resume output in the near future.
A global shortage of copper ore has enabled miners including BHP Billiton Limited to cut fees for processing the raw material into metal in Asia by 37% this year. Fees will decline further in 2008 after Tongling Non ferrous Metal Co agreed to more cuts with BHP this month.
Chinese coke enterprises to pass on tax cost by further price rise
Shanghai Securities News reported that when Chinese coke export tax was released to jump to 25% from 15%, the market appeared fairly quiet. The relatively large coke enterprises were prepared for the tax hike and had prescribed on the previously signed supply contracts to re fix the price if tax goes up.
Accounting for 40% of world coke trade, China's export negotiations are often carried out one to one. As per the industry source, the coke enterprises are going to re-discuss export price upon tax rise. Since the supply condition is tight at home, the coke enterprises would advance to raise the price, probably by 10% or more as per some source.
Mr Hua Zugui chairman of China Coal & Coking Holdings Co said that the coke price rises posted throughout this year will extend into 2008 and the coke sellers are ensured by the global steel, which is increasingly needed and meanwhile post growing demand for coke. He added that domestic supply has been particularly strained after the coal mining accidents in Hongdong, Shanxi Province and some coke enterprises even found the coking industry association for help.
The company source said that the coking coal price has been lifted by CNY 100 to 200 per tonne for 2008, pushing coke price to follow suit, by CNY 180 per tonne for Hongdongxian Yuanzhong Coking Co in December 2007. It added that "As the coke price is on constant rise, the Chinese exporters expect to pass on the higher tax cost."
From first quarter of 2007, Chinese coke export price started to step out of the valley and go up, often hoisted by the coking coal price rise, and the coke industry is considered limited in profitability.
Bridge steel structure alliance to set up in Wuhan
Changjiang Daily reported that a CNY 2 billion fund plan was made between Wuhan Bridge steel structure association and Xinzhou district government to build a bridge and steel structure industry base in the northern industrial park of Yangluo development zone in Wuhan.
According to the local government, total industrial output value of the bridge & steel structure industries in Yangluo will top CNY 10 billion. The government will fund some CNY 5 million into infrastructure construction to support the base.
Separately, Wuhan Renhe Group had poured CNY 1.5 billion setting up central China steel market and Hubei Huarong Logistics Co plunged CNY 1.73 billion constructing the international logistics base there, both expected to gather in over 2000 steel traders and deal with 30 million tonnes steel annually.
Handan Steel hikes EXW prices for HR & CR products
It is reported that Hebei based Handan Steel has raised EXW prices for HR and CR products on the basis of prices released one month ago.
Handan Steel pulls up prices by
CNY 300 per tonne for HRC
CNY 200 per tonne for pickled and color coated
CNY 450 per tonne for CR
CNY 250 per tonne for full hard
CNY 300 per tonne for HDG
CNY 4830 per tonne for Q235 3.0mm HRC
Prices listed above are inclusive of 17% VAT effective as of December 27th 2007.
Henggang's output tops 1 million tonne
Hunan Daily reported that Hunan Hengyang Steel Tube Group Corporation Limited has rolled out 1 million tonne products by December 27th 2007 and has become the second of seamless tube producers in the word with output topping 1 million tonnes per annum.
Henggang installed a set of new small and large caliber pipe lines while phasing out the backward equipments and facilities. So far, it has boasted 3 keynote varieties namely high pressure boiler tube, machinery processing tube and oil or gas pipe.
To catch up with production, it also invested 2 first class tubular billet lines these years. Despite decline in pipe sales price, Henggang is making higher revenues with CNY 6.5 billion sales income in 2007 up by 30% YoY.
Coal Companies in Kuzbass to invest RUB 60 billion
FIS reported that investments into coal production in Kuzbass totaled RUB 43 billion, which resulted in the growth of labor productivity by 8%.
The report further added that next year, investments will grow to RUB 60 billion. The coal enterprises to be put into operation next year include three coal extracting enterprises, three coal concentrating factories and 1 concentrating unit.
Russian ferro-chrome export up by 10.1% YoY
According to the related information, Russia exported ferro-chrome about 250,966 tonnes from January to September 2007, up by 10.1%YoY as compared to 227,935 tonnes in same period last year.
Among them, export of high carbon ferro chrome was about 96,909 tons, down by 2.2%YoY than 99,138 tonnes in the same time of last year.
It added that Netherland was the main importer with 41,626 tonnes, down by 18.3% YoY. On the other hand, Russian export the low carbon ferro chrome totaled 154,057 tonnes from January to September 2007, up by 19.6% than 128,797 tonnes from a year ago.
Russia prices for coking coal rising because of mine accidents
FIS reported that spot prices for coking coal in Russia are about USD 100 per tonne, setting an absolute maximum for several years.
Two years ago, when the raw prices started rising as a result of growing steel production they remained below USD 100 per tonne even for the most valuable grades of coking coals. It said that now such prices rose to USD120 to USD 140 per tonne.
Experts believe that prices are growing mostly because of accidents at Uliyanovskaya and Jubileynaya mines of Yuzhkuzbassugol and Komsomolskaya Mine of Vorkutaugol.
Beloretsk Metallurgical combine to make 25.5000 tonnes of ropes per annum
FIS reported that Beloretsk Metallurgical combine's unit No 11 put into operation a complex of equipment to make high strength reinforcing stabilized strands used in steel smelting industry.
The new complex will enable the enterprise to make the high quality new product in amount of 25.5000 tonne per annum. Investments into the project totaled RUB 140 million. The wire drawing and rope making lines were supplied by Italy’s MFL and the packaging line by Germany’s H-BL
Crude producer Rosneft set to boost oil output 10.9% in 2008
RIA Novosti reported that Russia's state controlled crude producer Rosneft intends to boost oil output 10.9% YoY in 2008 to 111.9 million tonnes.
The Rosneft board of directors on Friday reviewed the company's performance in 2007 and approved its business plan for 2008, saying the crude producer had achieved the best operational results in its history this year.
In 2007, Rosneft boosted oil output 25% YoY to 100.9 million tonnes or 0.3% above target.
Rosneft has become Russia's largest crude producer after acquiring most of the assets of bankrupt oil firm Yukos through liquidation auctions earlier this year
VTZ starts making pipes with inner smooth wall
It is reported that Volzhsk Pipe Plant started trial operation of novel equipment on application of smooth covering on the inner walls of large size pipes.
The application unit is intended for large-size pipes of the diameter from 530 mm to 1,420 mm and the wall thickness up to 42 mm. The equipment supplied by Bauhuis has the maximum capacity of 600 thousand tons of pipes per annum
