Vedanta announces mega steel plant in Orissa

BS reported that non ferrous metals giant Vedanta Resources is planning to enter the Indian steel sector with a 5 million tonne plant at an investment of around INR 24,000 crore in Keonjhar district of Orissa and envisaging it’s commissioning by 2012-13.

The report cited a Vedanta source as saying that "We are impressed at the growing consumption of steel in India and are keen to enter its steel sector. We are planning to build a 5 million tonnes steel plant at Keonjhar district of Orissa. If we find a suitable partner, we should be able to commission it by 2012-13 at an investment of about INR 24,000 crore."

Vedanta, which is the holding company of Sterlite Industries, has proposed to form a company called Sterlite Iron & Steel Company for the project. Apart from the plant, the project would involve developing iron ore mines. It would be a JV between the Vedanta group and Volcan Investments.

The project would be a fully integrated one and its produce would range from hot rolled and cold-rolled coils to long products. MN Dastur and Company has been entrusted to prepare the feasibility report of the project.

FIMI seeks intervene of PM against ad valorem duty

It is reported that, concerned over reports of union steel ministry favouring 10% to 15% ad valorem duty on export of iron ore, India’s miners have sought Dr Manmohan Singh’s intervention to stall the move which could hinder the mining industry. As iron ore prices are shooting up, an ad valorem duty structure would increase the incidence of duty. At present, the export duty is on the basis of ore content.

Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, in a letter to the Prime Minister, said that “India’s share in China’s total import of iron ore is just about 20% and the bulk of the supplies, which sets the market trend, are from Australia and Brazil. Thus, ad valorem of existing duty would be detrimental to the health of iron ore industry.” It added that since February 2007, when the export duty was imposed on iron ore, there has been an increase in costs which had a bearing on iron ore exports.

The letter said while rise in export prices have compensated increased costs to some extent, the industry is apprehensive about its sustainability as current high export prices may be a short term phenomenon. Further, India’s share in spot sales may go down as Rio Tinto now proposes to sell 20 to 25 million tonnes on spot basis.

It said “There is a concerted misinformation campaign about soaring export prices by the domestic steel lobby, which desires iron ore at cheap prices. A closer examination will reveal that high ocean freights from Brazil and congestion in Australian ports are driving up the iron ore spot prices. However, despite this, the exports to China are coming down due to the rise in mining and logistics costs in India.”

FIMI said that since the imposition of export duty, the rupee has appreciated by more than 12.3% vis a vis the US dollar. While rupee realization has gone down, the cost of extracting iron ore has risen due to input costs.

The miners said “India is a minor player in world iron ore trade and thus takes advantage of the spot market and also of lower sea freight and haulage time as compared with Brazil to derive higher price realization. Iron ore resources have been increasing on an average of 300 million tonnes per annum over last 25 years and 600 million tonnes per annum for haematite in last five years following intensive mining. Even if, for the sake of an argument, no new resources are discovered the present reserves would last 100 years at 110 million tonnes steel production.”

FIMI further added that “We would like to submit that despite increase in spot prices, the net margin with the industry, after paying all the taxes and absorbing increase in logistic and mining costs, does not warrant any increase in export duty.”

ADAG may invest INR 150,000 crore in infra sector

It is reported that Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is planning to invest an estimated INR 150,000 crore in power and transport sectors in 5 years.

Mr Anil Ambani chairman of ADAG recently said that “In the infrastructure sector, which includes power, investment could be INR 150,000 crore in the next 5 years. As a private sector entity we will play a crucial role. The growth is through the organic route. Today the whole world is embracing India. In the power and coal sectors there will be selective international opportunities.”

ADAG has also announced plans to invest INR 100,000 crore in the power business, while it is aggressively bidding for road projects and as well as in the transport sector. Group company Reliance Energy has bid for the INR 50,000 crore Ganga expressway project in Uttar Pradesh. It is also bidding for airports at Udaipur and Amritsar and is in the race for the ambitious Mumbai Tran Harbour link project.

Jaypee Industries likely to build Ganga Expressway project

It is reported that Jaypee Industries has emerged as the lowest bidder for the INR 40,000 crore Ganga expressway project in Uttar Pradesh. 1,000 kilometer Ganga Expressway project would connect Greater Noida in Western UP to Gazipur in Eastern UP.

As per report, out of the 15 companies short listed after initial scrutiny, only 5 participated in the financial bids that were opened on January 13th 2008, in which Jaypee Industries offered the lowest bid, followed by Reliance Energy. The others in the fray were Gammon India, Unitech and Zoom Developers.

Survey work for the project is complete. UP Expressway Development Authority will form a special purpose vehicle with each of the winning bidder and each winning bidder will be given a 250 kilometer stretch to build the expressway. The successful bidders will also be given rights to develop 64,000 hectare of land along the expressway, which will be used for real estate activity including residential, industrial and institutional areas.

The expressway will start from Ballia and pass through Ghazipur, Ramnagar, Varanasi, Chunar, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Unchahar, Unnao, Kanpur, Bithoor, Kannauj, Fatehgarh, Budaun, Narora and Bulandshahr before touching Noida.

Link expressways have also been proposed around the Ganga Expressway. These are a Jhansi-Kanpur Link Expressway, a Kanpur-Gorakhpur Link Expressway, an Agra-Kanpur Link Expressway and a Baghpat-Saharanpur- Hardwar-Dehradun Link

Centre affirms Miniratna status for CIL CCL

The centre had recently conferred Miniratna category 1 status to Ranchi based Coal India Limited’s Central Coalfields Limited, making it the first public sector undertaking in Jharkhand to receive this recognition from the centre.

Mr RP Ritolia CMD of CCL said that with the achievement of Miniratna status, CCL board had been empowered to sanction capital expenditure up to INR 300 crore on new projects, modernisation projects or purchase of equipment, etc. CCL’s board till now had the power to spend only INR 100 crore on those heads.

The Miniratna status would empower CCL to establish JVs. From the beginning of the 10th Plan, CCL started earning profits from its minus networth of INR 163 crore in 2001-002. It improved its networth to INR 1,686 crore in 2006-07.

Rohit Ferro starts 4th ferrochrome furnace

Rohit Ferro Tech Limited announced that its Jaipur unit of the Company has become fully operational with the start of its 4th furnace. It added that, its Bishnupur unit has converted two of its 9 MVA furnace to produce ferromanganese in place of HC ferrochrome.

Its release said that “The management's decision to divert into Manganese alloys production is due to higher production, better margins, and the better availability of raw materials.”

Ferro Manganese requires only 2800-3000 units of electricity whereas Ferro Chrome needs about 4000 units, thereby, the same 9 MVA furnace will produce more tonnage of ferromanganese than that of ferrochrome.

GAIL board approves Dabhol to Bangalore gas pipeline

Projects Today reported that the board of GAIL (India) has given in principle approval for laying of the INR 2,500 crore Dabhol to Bangalore gas pipeline on January 15th 2008.

The final board approval will be given after the project is appraised, customers identified and design parameters frozen.

The 730 kilometer long pipeline, which is expected to carry 16 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, will connect the LNG terminal of Ratnagiri Gas & Power at Dabhol in Maharashtra to Bangalore. It will pass through Ratnagiri and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra and Belgaum, Dharwad, Haveri, Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Bangalore districts of Karnataka.

The project is expected to be completed by 2011-12.

Rampur hydroelectric project gets USD 400 million WB loan

It is reported that a loan agreement of USD 400 million has been granted for 412 MW Rampur hydroelectric project located in Himachal Pradesh. Mr HK Sharma CMD of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, as JV of central and state government for implementing the project and Ms Isabella Guerrio country director (India Operation) of World Bank signed the agreement.

It is located in the immediate downstream of existing 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric power station. Rampur Project is slated to be commissioned by January 2012 within the 11th plan period and shall generate 1770 million units of electricity each year.

Himachal government having an equity partnership of 30% in the project shall be allocated 30% of generated power on bus bar rates apart from 12% free power and also shall have additional power allocation as its entitlement under the Gadgil formula as a part of northern grid state. The balance power shall be allocated to all the constituents of the northern grid namely UP, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and J&K.

PGCIL inks JV with IL&FS for a new company

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has announced that it is entering into a shareholder's agreement with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited for formation of 50:50 JV named Power Grid IL&FS Transmission Pvt Limited.

The main objective of the new JV is to undertake activities of project development of intra transmission and sub transmission works for state power utilities under public private partnership route within India and abroad including interconnection with neighboring countries subject to bilateral agreement between the countries.

This JV will also facilitate project preparation and development work for state power units and will act as a bid process coordinator of state power units and manage the bidding process for selection of the private implementing agencies.

The JV company board in its 1st meeting held on January 11th 2008 have approved that it will broaden its scope of development of transmission projects in India and abroad including interconnection with neighboring countries.

In order to meet the huge resources requirements by the respective states in implementing the intra state transmission network and bridge the resources constraints, union ministry of power in line with Electricity Act, 2003 have opened up transmission sector for development through private sector participation and necessary guidelines have been issued. The guidelines of ministry of power envisage the selection of private parties through a process of transparent methodology on the consideration of lowest transmission tariff, after doing necessary preparatory and development work for the transmission project before it is offered for private sector participation.

5 berths to be modernized at Haldia dock

BL reported that Kolkata Port Trust has embarked upon massive modernization of 5 of its berths at Haldia dock to achieve higher productivity. A beginning has already been made. A total of 9 firms have responded to the notice inviting tenders and participated in pre bid negotiations for modernisation of berth 2 and 8.

Mr Rajeev Dube deputy chairman of Kolkata Port Trust and in charge of Haldia dock said that “Some changes in documentation might be needed on the basis of discussion but we have plans to complete modernisation by 2009.”

He added that the essence of modernisation would be equipping the berths, with private firms supplying and operating the equipment such as mobile harbour cranes but the users of the berths would interact only with the dock authorities planning to offer an integrated service. Mr Dube said that the modernisation of two other berths number 3 and 5 was on the anvil. He added that “We are examining the report submitted by Mecon for modernisation of berth number 3. For berth 5, the dock authorities were mulling expansion by filling an adjacent water body.”

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur has already submitted a report in this regard. Berth 5 is partly mechanical. Also there has been a de rating of its capacity over the years. The modernisation of container berth was also receiving a good deal of attention. Already rail mounted quay cranes and rubber tyred gantries had been installed in the berth but much more needed to be done. Mr Dube pointed out that the existing anomalies in container handling rates too would be removed, most probably by cutting out the present arrangement of private sector participation in the supply of horizontal transportation equipment.

There is a further proposal to construct two lay up berths where the vessels, which are ready to sail out but cannot because of the low tide, could be berthed. Currently, such vessels occupy cargo handling berths adding to the congestion problem already afflicting the dock.

8 killed at Godawari Power accident

It is reported that the death toll at accident in Godawari Power & Ispat Limited on January 12th 2008 has risen to 8. PTI had earlier reported that 5 laborers were charred to death and four seriously injured when a huge quantity of hot iron ore dust spilled over them at the Godavari Ispat's Sponge Iron plant at Raipur in Chattisgarh.

As per reports, Godawari Power & Ispat Limited was undertaking routine maintenance operations in 1 of the 4 sponge iron kilns for the last 11 days. Maintenance activities were being carried on in the dust suction chamber of the sponge iron kiln for cleaning the excessive accretions.

As per report, a large number of local villagers and Youth Congress workers staged demonstrations against the management outside the plant Sunday, seeking stern action and the police have arrested three officials of the plant.

Godawari Power announced a compensation of INR 350,000 to each of the families of the deceased laborers and taking care of the injured laborers.

DLW bags export order for 4 locos to Senegal and Mali

It is reported that Indian Railways have exported 4 numbers of 2300 HP metre gauge diesel electric locomotives, 1 to Senegal and 3 to Mali, through RITES recently.

In a stiff bidding, Diesel Locomotive Works, a production unit of Indian Railways, had grabbed an export order for 4 numbers of locomotives for these countries. DLW has executed this order within the stipulated time. These locomotives having 12 cylinders V engine are provided with dual cabs, air brake system, parking brake and electric AC DC transmission.

It is worth mentioning here that due to high level of performance and warranty support, the demand of DLW’s locomotives has been surged in the world market. By manufacturing the state of the art locomotives, suitable to the geographical background and climatic conditions of the purchaser countries, DLW has been receiving export order from various countries

Adani Power to start work on 1320 MW project soon

BS reported that Adani Power Maharashtra Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ahmedabad based Adani Power Limited, will soon start work on its 1,320 MW thermal power plant near Tirora in Maharashtra with an investments of INR 5,280 crore. The coal fired Tirora plant will mark Adani Power Maharashtra Private Limited’s foray into power generation, followed by a second phase plant of 660 MW in either Maharashtra or some other region later.

For the fuel, Adani Power Maharashtra will be procuring coal from the Loharu west mines. An Adani Power Maharashtra Private Limited official said that “Fuel has been tied up for the plant and the construction work will begin soon.”

Expected to be commissioned within 40 months from the day the construction starts, the power generated from the plant will be bought by beneficiary government bodies like electricity boards. It is believed to be in advance stages of procuring power generation equipment from a Chinese firm. It is likely that the power generated from the plant might also be traded through APL’s power trading division.

Adani Power Limited, on the other hand, is in the process of setting up a 2640 MW coal based thermal power plant at Mundra. The project is expected to create a synergy between APL’s existing business and its growth plans.

RINL supports 95th Indian Science Congress Association meet

Mr PK Bishnoi CMD of RINL Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has complimented the vice chancellor, registrar and other faculty members of Andhra University for the successful organization of the 95th Indian Science Congress Association meet held recently.

Mr Bishnoi was speaking to Dr Vijay Prakash vice chancellor of Andhra University, Registrar and other professors in a formal meeting held in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. During the meeting, he also stated that he was pleased to be in the presence of Nobel Laureates during the science congresses meet and that one should learn from the Nobel laureates, the trait of humility.

As part of its corporate social responsibility, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has contributed INR 1 crore to the University, for the organization of the 95th Indian Science Congress Association meet. On behalf of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Mr Y Manohar director personnel and Mr KS Shankar director finance handed over the cheque to Dr Vijay Prakash Registrar of Andhra University in the presence of Mr PK Bishnoi.

IMFA gets POSCO award for outstanding supplier of the year

SNS reported that Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Limited has been recognized as the outstanding supplier of the year 2007 by POSCO for supply of ferrochrome.

As per report, Mr Joon Yang Chung president & CEO of POSCO handed over a plaque to Mr Subhrakant Panda MD of IMFA at a function held at the POSCO centre in Seoul on January 9th 2008.

IMFA first supplied ferrochrome on spot basis to POSCO in 1998 and subsequently entered into a long term agreement in 2000. Presently, IMFA is one of the leading suppliers of ferro chrome to POSCO and meets about 20% of its requirements.

IMO delegation hails safety measures at Alang shipyard

Exim News Service reported that a delegation from the International Maritime Organisation not only expressed satisfaction over the safety measures in place at the Alang ship breaking yard in Gujarat, but was also impressed by the facilities of the recycling industries.

The delegation led by Dr Nikolas Mikelis secretary of IMO also inspected the working conditions at the recycling industries. They felt that India could become the leader in ship recycling industries and the ship breaking industry in India had considerably improved.

Mr Ajoy Chatterji of DG Shipping said that "When I was based in Mumbai in 1999 I visited Alang and today when I visited the same site 9 years later, I have found a drastic improvement in infrastructure, safety standards, roads and basic requirement of workers."

Mr Nikhil Gupta joint secretary of the Ship Recycling Industries in India said that "The controversy on Clemenceau and the Blue Lady tarnished the reputation of ship recycling industry in India, but after visiting the ship breaking yard at Alang, the delegation must have observed the high standards of safety, environment and working conditions there."

WB to add 500 MW from renewable energy sources by 2015

ET reported that West Bengal government has set a target to generate 500 MW from renewable sources by 2015 for commercial purposes. Out of this, around 40% will be generated from wind energy, 30% from bio mass 20% from hydro while the balance 10% will be solar power. At present, the state generates 75 MW of green energy, which is connected to the grid.

Mr SP Gon Chowdhury special secretary at power department of West Bengal said that the state has set a target to generate 250 MW of green energy by 2012.He added that “While currently around 150,000 families in the state are using green energy for their electricity requirement, by 2015 we will cover some 500,000 families.”

Me Gon said that West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission has set a target to generate at least 10% of the state’s power requirement from renewable sources by 2012. He added that “Estimates suggest that green energy in West Bengal will attract investment of about INR 10,000 crore by 2015-16.”

BHPB bid for Rio - Rio showcases Pilbara iron ore reserves

Herald Sun reported that Rio Tinto has fired a new salvo in its battle to fend off predator BHP Billiton, reiterating its claim to have the biggest and best iron ore operation in the Pilbara amid mounting speculation that BHP will move earlier than expected with an improved offer.

Mr Sam Walsh CEO of iron ore business of Rio at a Perth media briefing said that that Rio has the largest iron ore resource and reserve base in the Pilbara, expected to sustain multiple decades of future mining.

Rio has flown in journalists from London and New York as well as locally for a four day tour of its iron ore operations as part of its PR campaign ahead of the real battle.

Rio's operations in the Pilbara comprise 11 mines, three ports and some 1300 kilometer of rail network.

Corus to raise prices for aluminized strip steels

The Aluminized Products business of Corus Strip Products UK will raise the price of its aluminized strip steel by EUR 60 per tonne for deliveries from the first quarter of 2008.

Mr Nick Busby commercial manager automotive said "We can no longer absorb the large increases in the costs of raw materials, energy and transport that we have seen in recent years. There are signs that the market for metallic-coated steels is improving and other producers are also experiencing increasing costs, particularly long distance freight that will reduce the competitiveness of imports into Europe."

Mr Busby said "We have significantly improved our delivery performance and logistics for aluminized strip in 2007, a process that will continue in 2008 to help our customers reduce the cost of stock and still be able to respond to fluctuating market demands."

The Aluminized Products business, whose steels are used in automotive exhausts, domestic appliances and other demanding applications, has been part of the business wide continuous improvement program in Corus Strip Products UK.

SS production may rise by 8.6% in 2008 – CRU

Research group CRU said that stainless steel production will expand as much as 8 times faster in 2008 than in 2007 as mills replenish stockpiles.

Ms Vanessa Davidson research manager for CRU's special steels and alloys division said that last year's estimate of 1% growth will be revised in March 2008. Growth may be as fast as 8.6%, with almost half the 2.5 million tonne increase from China. She added that “We are looking for decent growth in 2008.''

Ms Davidson said that China is expanding output from 7.5 million tonnes in 2007 after building up capacity to supply export industries. Tangshan Iron & Steel Co will start production this year at a mill with annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co, Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co and Lianzhong Stainless Steel are also increasing capacity.

She further added that Western Europe is now the most buoyant stainless steel market. Steel mills began replenishing stockpiles toward the end of 2007 and demand has strengthened. She said “Mills in Europe said they are fully booked in January and February 2008 and some through March 2008.''

Ms Davidson said in Germany, the base price for cold rolled coil was raised by 7.1% in December 2007. Base prices reflect demand for metal and exclude the cost of ingredients including chrome and nickel, which are paid through a separate premium. She said “If demand from distributors and end users in North America and Asia doesn't pick up soon from current levels, perhaps we may see growth of 4 to 5%.''

Growth in stainless steel production may be lower than expected should weaker demand in Japan and the US, encourage mills to extend production cuts beyond January 2008.

Iron ore price negotiations – BHPB declines to comment

Bloomberg reported that BHP Billiton Ltd has declined to comment on a report today in the Australian Financial Review that Baosteel Group Corp. has ceased iron ore price talks with producers of the raw material.

Ms Samantha Evans spokeswoman for Melbourne based BHPB said by phone today that “We never comment on iron-ore negotiations while they are ongoing.”

Nucor makes strip casting record with the Castrip process

Nucor announced that its Crawfordsville based steel plant utilizing the Castrip(R) Process has set a new record for sequence casting.

A release said that “It cast 24 ladles of steel, continuously, over a 38 hour period in late December. Total throughput for the record was 2,467 tons cast, while producing 2,387 tons of prime coils. The previous record of nine ladles and 12 hours of casting had stood until early December when it was eclipsed with a 14 heat sequence, followed a week later by an 18 heat sequence. Within 10 days, both achievements were shattered by this world-record performance.”

Mr Dan DiMicco chairman & CEO of Nucor said "This record highlights not only a step change in productivity but also the remarkable strides made in product quality over the past twelve months. We are very proud of the dedication and focus of the Crawfordsville team that continues to push the envelope of strip casting.”

Mr DiMicco added “Nucor looks forward to the operation of the second Castrip facility under construction at Blytheville, which is scheduled for start up in late 2008. The synergy created from the expertise of these two plants has already redefined new standards of quality and performance for thin strip casting."

ThyssenKrupp GfT Bautechnik acquires Steelcom in Australia

ThyssenKrupp GfT Bautechnik GmbH based at Essen in Germany, has supplemented its systems business in Australia by acquiring as of December 19th 2007, the entire stake in Australia's Sydney based Steelcom Pty Ltd.

Founded in 1983, this company has for many years operated as a successful distributor for ThyssenKrupp GfT Bautechnik in the Australian market. Steelcom is Australia's leader in the market for selling and hiring sheet pile and accessories plus the related piling equipment. The company which currently has a workforce of 14, is headed by former owner Mr Richard Neville Cook who will remain with the company.

Mr Rolf Oberhaus management board member of ThyssenKrupp GfT Bautechnik said "The takeover of Steelcom signifies for us a stronger presence in the Australian and New Zealand markets and blends in perfectly with our global business model. Over the years ahead Australia will be investing heavily in its infrastructure, and such construction works are for us the ideal business environment, also for our civil engineering machinery systems."

With an integrated range of machinery, plant and equipment backed up by customer-focused services, ThyssenKrupp GfT Bautechnik, a member of ThyssenKrupp Services, specializes in supplying complex system solutions. Sheet pile consultancy, engineering drawings including design and piling schedules plus aftermarket services complete the range of capabilities accounting for the company's foremost position in port construction and specialty civil engineering.

AM Castle & Co to acquire Metals UK Group

A.M Castle & Co, a global distributor of specialty metal and plastic products, value added services and supply chain solutions, has announced that it has acquired the outstanding capital stock of Metals UK Group, a distributor and processor of specialty metals primarily serving the oil and gas, aerospace, petrochemical and power Generation markets worldwide.

Metals UK Group has four processing facilities 2 at Blackburn in UK including its headquarters, one in Hoddesdon North East of London and one at Bilbao in Spain.

Metals UK Group reported revenues of USD 72 million for fiscal year 2007. Sales outside of the UK comprise 25% of the company’s total revenues and include customers in 36 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Americas.

As per report, current management will remain in place, including Mr Ian Griffiths founder and president of Metals UK Group and a former member of the AM Castle management team.

Lusosider stops tinplate production

It is reported that Brazil's CSN has confirmed that it has suspended production of tinplate at its Lusosider subsidiary in Portugal

The plant, at Paio Pires near Lisbon was one of the smallest tinplate operations in Europe, producing some 60,000 tonnes per year. It is also a producer of galvanized steel and other finished steel products, with a total processing capacity of 550,000 tonnes per year.

CSN is reportedly considering new investments in the plant, including the possible addition of a hot strip mill. Meanwhile workers on the tinplate line have been re-deployed to other areas.

Andritz to purchase steel and copper unit of Maerz-Gautschi

Thomson Financial reported that Andritz AG plans to acquire the steel and copper unit of Germany's Maerz-Gautschi Industrieofenanlagen GmbH, pending approval from German competition authorities.

According to an Andritz spokesman Maerz-Gautschi which is part of the Deutsche Beteiligungs AG subsidiary Hochtemperatur Engineering GmbH, generated around EUR 50 million in its steel and copper unit last year.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

MMX executes agreement for purchase of Minerminas

MMX Mineração e Metálicos SA, pursuant to article 157 of Law 6404/76, and CVM Instruction No 358/02, has made the following announcement

It said that “The Company has entered into an agreement with the shareholders of Minerminas - Mineradora Minas Gerais Ltda, by which AVX Mineração Ltda, its direct subsidiary, will, subject to certain conditions that are customary to this type of transaction, acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of Minerminas.”

It added that “Consummation of the purchase of Minerminas by AVX should occur in the first quarter of 2008 upon fulfillment of the above-mentioned conditions. With the conclusion of the operation, AVX will pay as consideration for 100% of the shares of Minerminas the purchase price of USD 125,000,000, payable in 7 semi-annual consecutive installments.”

The release said that “he Company, through its subsidiary AVX, should merge the operations of AVG with those of Minerminas in order to achieve synergies and efficiency gains. The Company estimates that the integrated operations of AVX will result in iron ore production of 6.1 million tonnes in 2008, while engineering studies will be carried out to increase production to 8 million tonnes in 2009. For this, the Company plans to invest USD 8.1 million in 2008 to improve operations in Minerminas, in addition to the investments planned for the expansion of production at AVG.”

Minerminas operates an iron ore mine adjacent to the operations of AVG Mineração SA, an indirect subsidiary of the Company, and also owns other mining rights and leases in the Serra Azul region, in Minas Gerais. According to information provided by Minerminas, the company produced approximately 700,000 tonnes of iron ore in 2007.

Ag Growth acquires operating assets of Applegate Steel

It is reported that Ag Growth Income Fund is buying most of the operating assets of Indiana based Applegate Steel Inc for USD 3 million. Ag Growth said that it didn't buy Applegate's manufacturing facility and instead will move those operations from Saratoga to Union City in Indiana.

Applegate manufactures livestock gates, panels, feeders and stock tanks at locations in Indiana and Iowa. Its revenues have ranged from USD 9 million to USD 12 million over the past few years, Ag Growth said in a release.

Mr Rob Stenson CEO of Ag Growth said that "The Applegate product line, which has been in existence for almost 50 years, complements certain products manufactured by the fund's Wheatheart and Edwards divisions and provides the fund with a more substantial footing in the livestock end of the agricultural market.”

Ag Growth makes portable and stationary grain handling, storage and conditioning equipment, including augers, belt conveyors, grain storage bins, grain handling accessories and grain aeration equipment. Ag Growth bought a 160,000 square foot facility in Union City in November to provide manufacturing capabilities in its core US market. The company said increasing production in the US will reduce its foreign currency exposure.

Brazilian slab export prices surge

It is reported that Brazil's export price of slab to Asia is holding at C&F USD 650 per tonne at present, the delivery is around January to March.

South Korea is the main import country. The price increased by USD 50 per tonne than the former agreement price, and fob price up by USD 40 per tonne.

According to information, as slab import price soars, South Korea's main steel mill including Hyundai Steel and Dongkuk Steel may increase the domestic HRC and heavy plate prices soon.

Japan to negotiate SBQ prices with South Korea

It is reported that Japanese mills plan to start price negotiations with South Korea re-rollers for second quarter ship plate next week.

Japan’s mills will face higher cost of raw materials and unstable exchange rate in the second quarter. Therefore they are anticipated to increase the export prices.

China has settled the ship plat prices to South Korea at USD 900 per tonne and the quoted price is said to be USD 1,000 per tonne.

Megaprofil turnover to reach EUR 70 million in 2008

Business Standard daily reported that Megaprofil, one of the largest metal structures producers in Romania, estimates a 30% growth in business this year up to EUR 70 million due to investments in new production lines and due to the increase of the domestic constructions market.

Mr Cyriel Beirnaert South East Europe Manager of Belgian group Joris Ide, owner of Megaprofil, said that "We ended 2007 with EUR 53 million in turnover over 40% more compared to 2006. We are ready to invest EUR 10 million in 2008 to set up a new production line. We will continue to invest an annual EUR 5 million in the following years."

Megaprofil specializes in metallic structures, metallic tiles and roof accessories and other construction materials.

Salzgitter buys SIG Beverages from Rheinfall

Salzgitter AG said that it is buying SIG Beverages from Rheinfall to expand in plastic bottle technology.

It said in a statement the takeover of SIG Beverages represents an initial and highly relevant step in further developing Kloeckner Werke.

Salzgitter also bought Kloeckner Werke AG to enter the engineering and machine building area of beverage filling and packaging technologies in 2007.

SIG Beverages, which has 480 employees, had generated sales of about EUR 150 million in 2007.

Dongkuk Steel raises prices by 7.5%

Bloomberg reported that South Korea's Dongkuk Steel Mill Co has raised prices of its products used in construction by as much as 7.5% because of higher raw material costs.

Mr Kim Sun Hong spokesman of Dongkuk Steel said that the price for H beam steel used for building has rose by KRW 50,000 to KRW 720,000 per tonne with effect from January 10th 2008. It has also raised the price of iron bar by 7% to KRW 632,000 with effect from January 7th 2008. It kept the price of steel plates used in shipbuilding unchanged. He added that iron bars and beam products accounts for almost half the company's sales.

Asian steelmakers including Nippon Steel Corporation and South Korea's Hyundai Steel Co have boosted prices to offset higher raw material costs, including iron ore and coal.

RTI International planning USD 100 million plant

It is reported that RTI International Metals Inc is planning to build a new plant at Martinsville in VA, to product titanium blooms, billets, sheet, and plate, all as part of its long-term contract to supply the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.

According to reports the new plant is budgeted a USD 100 million. RTI will occupy an existing building, and operations will begin in 2010. No details of the operations or any equipment contracts have been made known.

RTI intends to supply 80 million pound per year of titanium products to Lockeed Martin, and projects its income from the contract will exceed USD 2 billion over the term.

In addition to the new plant in Virginia, RTI is building a new titanium sponge plant at Hamilton a USD 300 million project. That plant will start up in 2010 and eventually produce 20 million tonnes per year of sponge.

Canada concludes investigation on steel pipes

It is reported that Canada Border Services Agency has concluded its re investigation of the normal values and export prices of certain steel structural tubing from the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Turkey.

This re investigation is part of the CBSA’s enforcement of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal's injury finding of December 23rd 2003.

Chung Hung Steel to supply hot rolled heavy plate

YIEH reported that Taiwan’s Chung Hung Steel has begun trial production of hot roll plate last month, with thickness around 12 mm to 16 mm.

Chung Hung Steel will consider starting commercial production, because the demands are good in the market. However, it still has the difficulty in getting the slab source; therefore, it will try to bring up their plan in its board meeting to get their directors' support.

Lack of communication blamed for DBCT bottlenecks

It is reported that the final report into bottlenecks at Queensland's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal has blamed a lack of communication for the problem.

The second and final report into the system found that investments and upgrades were being made to some parts of the system, without concurrent investment in others.

The report also avoided criticizing the port's operators, but said the lack of a master plan for the whole chain contributed to the problem.

In 2007, up to 50 ships at a time were forced to wait to be loaded at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, sparking an independent review of the Goonyella supply chain. The supply chain moves coal from the Bowen Basin to the port, south of Mackay.

Kumba to relocate community to expand Sishen mine

Mining Weekly Online reported that South Africa's biggest iron ore producer, Kumba Iron Ore, has plans to relocate the 600 household strong community of Dingleton because it was located too close to the expanding Sishen mine.

KIO said that "The town is now, by modern standards, located too close to the current mine. This has been compounded by rising environmental awareness and the expansion of mining activities at both the Sishen mine and a new neighbouring mine."

KIO's predecessor Iscor built the town to serve the Sishen mine in the 1950s. The mine is in the Northern Cape, which produces the vast majority of iron ore. Dingleton residents had requested that KIO notify them by the end of 2007 of its intentions for the town's future.

Mr Tebello Chabana spokesperson of KIO declined to give cost estimates at this stage. He said "We still have to go through the process of scoping the full extent of the work to be done. Once we do the baseline audit of the current infrastructure in Dingleton, with the community’s assistance, we will be in better position to give cost estimates." He said that the relocation would take as long as 4 years to conclude. He added that "If the relocation goes ahead, we hope to complete it by the end of 2012."

KIO said that consultations with the community had shown residents were keen to move. It added that "Although independent tests have demonstrated that noise, dust and vibration impacts from mining are within legal limits, recent public consultations by Kumba with the Dingleton residents indicated a strong desire by the residents to relocate."

The resettlement will only proceed if it could be planned collaboratively by the residents, KIO and the appropriate public authorities. The move would also have to lead to an improvement in both the standard of living and the sustainability of the affected communities. Once the community is constituted, discussions will commence in early 2008.

Case filed against judge over steel firm’s takeover

Local media has reported that a graft complaint has been filed at the office of the Ombudsman against a judge who allegedly sided with a bank that was embroiled in a legal battle for control of Steel Corporation of the Philippines.

Mr Antonio M Lorenzana executive VP & CEO of Steel Corporation of the Philippines filed the complaint against Judge Ms Ma Cecilia Austria of the Batangas City Regional Trial Court Branch 2 for allegedly violating Republic Act number 3019 or the Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Mr Lorenzana claimed that Ms Austria held unrecorded informal meetings to allow the bank unmitigated access to the company’s records and facilitate the takeover. He alleged that the judge knowingly allowed the appointment of a rehabilitation receiver despite a conflict of interest situation with the creditor bank, which was seeking the corporation’s rehabilitation. Mr Lorenzana said Ms Austria orchestrated the meetings where Steel Corporation was required to fully articulate its business, financial and rehabilitation plans without requiring similar detailed presentations and justifications from BDO or the receiver.

Lawyers of Steel Corporation had filed 3 petitions for certiorari before the court of appeals to stop Ms Austria’s decision. But the judge noted that no temporary restraining order had been granted to them.

She said she had not yet received a copy of the graft complaint and it was only through the Inquirer that she learned about it. She maintained that she did not facilitate any bias for whatever party to the case and the decision she rendered was fair. Ms Austria said that “I am not affected because I know it will not prosper. My conscience is clear. I only laughed because I know it will not prosper. Otherwise, we would be held hostage to parties na lang. What if my decision would be upheld by the court of appeals and the Supreme Court?”

Workers at US Steel's Irvin plant to undergo TB tests

It is reported that Allegheny County health department infectious disease specialists will test workers at US Steel Corporation's Irvin plant for tuberculosis because a male worker at the plant contracted the lung disease, which is mildly contagious and can be deadly if not treated.

Mr Guillermo Cole spokesman for Allegheny health department said that "We will be there tomorrow to offer tuberculosis testing to co workers who've shared a significant amount of air space with this person. It is standard procedure whenever we have an active tuberculosis case for the health department to identify close contacts and test them."

Mr Cole said that free skin tests will be given to US Steel Irvin workers. If people have a positive reaction to the skin test within 3 days, they will receive an X ray to determine if they have active tuberculosis. People who had tuberculosis at any point in their lives will test positive, but this does not mean they have an active version of the disease.

Allegheny County had 22 active cases of tuberculosis in 2007.

S&P Equity Research upgrades AK Steel to buy

It is reported that S&P Equity Research has upgraded AK Steel from hold to buy.

Mr L Larkin analyst at S&P said that "Our upgrade is based on valuation. Ahead of Q4 EPS scheduled for January 22nd 2008, we project EPS of USD 0.64 as compared to operating EPS of USD 0.37. Based on a less optimistic outlook for automotive related product sales, we are cutting our 2008 EPS estimate to USD 3.70 from USD 3.92, and we are reducing our 12 month P/E based target price to USD 52 from USD 55. But with AKS shares selling at about 10.5X our 2008 EPS estimate, following a recent decline, we believe the stock is attractively valued and, on that basis, our recommendation is buy."

AK Steel Holding Corporation is a fully integrated producer of flat rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, and tubular products through its wholly owned subsidiary, AK Steel Corporation.

Court rules on accident at Kremikovetzi

Sofia Appellate Court upheld the sentences against 6 defendants tried for a deadly gas leakage at Kremikovtsi steel mill 4 years ago, sparing them time in jail.

Following a probe into the leakage, the prosecution raised charges against the head of the fire extinguishing unit Mr Ivan Neshkov, the head of the shift Mr Valentin Kubadinov, the head of the gas guards Mr Hristo Alexandrov, head of the production unit Mr Nikolay Savov and senior gas guard Mr Ivaylo Stoykov and gas expert Mr Dimitar Blazhev.

In April 2007 the court found guilty only Mr Blazhev, Mr Savov and Mr Kubadinov but delivered jail sentences to none of them. Mr Blazhev and Mr Kubadinov were the ones most harshly punished after the court delivered on them a 3 year suspended sentence and a 5 year probation period. They both will have to pay a fine of BGL 1000. Mr Savov was imposed a fine of BGL 2000 for breaching safety rules and failing to evacuate workers from the danger zone.

It is noted that 3 people were killed and another 22 injured on January 10th 2004 after a gas leakage accident at Kremikovtsi steel maker.

Protesting workers shut down Delta Steel Company

Nigerian media reported that workers of Nigeria’s Delta Steel Company has shut down the company and barricaded major entry points. Top members of the management team and other employees were turned back from the gates.

As per report “The workers were protesting against alleged moves by the management to prevent them from holding elections to elect new leaders for the labour unions in the company. Workers were worried that the management continued to support the appointment of caretaker committees to pilot the affairs of the DSC’s chapters of the Iron & Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the Steel Workers Union of Nigeria.”

Adbic plans USD 1 billion expansion plan for Emirates Steel

Gulf News reported that Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation allocated USD 1 billion to expand the annual capacity of Emirates Steel Industries by next year from 700,000 tonnes to two million tonnes early in 2009. As per report, Adbic plans to raise its total annual capacity to 5 million tonnes in five years, with USD 1 billion in expansion under construction and another USD 1 billion in the pipeline.

Dr Jim White COO of Adbic told Gulf News that "Many contracts have been awarded already and the construction now is half way, as we plan to push the capacity to 2 million tonnes early in 2009, to be followed by an additional 1.4 million tonnes capacity after two years from then and 1.4 million tonnes two years later.”

Adbic is also planning a Polymer Park to be launch-ed in the first quarter of this year, with an initial estimated investment of USD 5 billion. Dr White said "An area of four square kilometers has been allocated in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi, the feasibility studies have been carried out, the layout has been set, and now we await the launch. We will establish a main facility and act as the developers, and the private sector as well as international companies is welcome to set up industries there."

Turkish scrap import from EU in H1 of 2007 up by 25% YoY

It is reported that Turkey bought 2.96 million tonnes of ferrous scrap from the European Union in January to June 2007 period up by 25% YoY as against 2.4 million tonnes in January to June 2006 period and strengthened its position as the largest buyer of EU ferrous scrap.

Turkish mini mills have bought more ferrous scrap from European and US exporters during the past 3 years as scrap supplies from Russian Black Sea exporters dried up when steel mills within Russia started consuming more of that scrap.

The next biggest consumer of EU ferrous scrap in the first half of this year was Egypt, which took 551,000 tonnes.

Total ferrous scrap exports from the EU 27 nations rose by 6.8% to 5.46 million tonnes, while imports fell by 22.8% to 2.87 million tonnes compared with a year earlier. The EU's biggest supplier was Russia, which shipped 987,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap to the region.

Mytilineos confirms aluminum project in Saudi Arabia

It is reported that Greek Mytilineos confirmed discussions about an aluminum project in Saudi Arabia, noting that it is still in an early phase as they are investigating the terms and the conditions of this potential investment.

Mytilineos has signed a MoU with a local company to invest in two aluminum production units with a capacity of 330.000 tons each, building also its own electricity generation unit. The estimated budget of this project, in which Mytilineos will hold 51%, is around USD 4 billion.

Egypt gets USD 200 million loan to upgrade electricity capacity

Mr Faiza Abu el Naga international cooperation minister of Egypt said that the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development has agreed to lend USD 200 million to Egypt to upgrade an electricity station at Abou Kir. He added that the loan would be repaid over 26 years, starting after 6 years, with an annual interest rate of 3%.

Mr Abu el Naga said that the loan will be used to raise the output of the station in Abou Kir to 1 300 MW, in order to meet the increasing demand on energy.

Egypt has been seeking to diversify its energy resources and launched a nuclear program for peaceful purposes in 2007 as the local economy was growing in 2006-2007 at its fastest rates in decades.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries said that it had received an invitation worth EGP 560 million from West Delta Electricity Production Company to sign a contract to build another station in Sidi Kerir, also on Egypt's northern coast.

Energy firms to submit a nuclear power plant project in UAE

It is reported that French Total, Suez and Areva have signed a partnership agreement to submit a nuclear power plant project comprising two 1600 MW evolutionary power reactor and fuel cycle products to the authorities of the United Arab Emirates. Local partners will take part in the project.

Total said that it would provide its expertise in managing complex major industrial projects in close collaboration with local authorities and business. Suez would contribute its expertise as a nuclear power plant operator, gained from designing and building nuclear power plants in Belgium that it has now operated for more than 30 years. Integrated on the whole nuclear cycle, Areva would contribute it’s know how covering nuclear islands and the complete fuel chain.

Total and Suez are already partners in power generation and desalination in the United Arab Emirates, through the Taweelah plant, which produces around 20% of the electricity in Abu Dhabi.

Iran and Gazprom to boost energy ties

ISNA reported that Iran and Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom are planning to boost energy cooperation in Iran.

Mr Gholamhossein Nozari oil minister of Iran said that Gazprom would offer a proposal by mid March 2008 to participate in developing Iran’s oil and gas fields. He added that “We had serious discussions with Gazprom officials. We agreed to receive their offer by mid March 2008. Gazprom is interested in development of Iran’s oil and gas fields, exploration activities and also pipeline projects.”

As per report, they have s identified oil and gas deposit exploration and development, in particular the further development of the energy-rich Southern Pars deposit in Iran, as priority areas for cooperation.

Stages 2 and 3 of the Southern Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf were initiated by the international consortium of France's Total, which holds a 40% stake, Malaysia's Petronas with 30% and Russia's Gazprom with 30% in 1997. The consortium built two offshore platforms with 10 production wells each, two 100 kilometer underwater gas pipelines and an onshore gas plant with annual capacity of 20 billion cubic meters.

Iran sits on the world’s 2nd largest gas reserves after Russia. But sanctions, politics and construction delays have slowed its gas development and analysts say the country is unlikely to become a major exporter for years. Iran's proven gas reserves total more than 28 trillion cubic meters ad Iran produced 105 billion cubic meters of gas in 2006.

Economists have said that many foreign firms, particularly Western companies, are increasingly wary of investing in the Islamic Republic after the UN imposed two rounds of sanctions on the country over its nuclear row. But Iran’s large oil and gas reserves still make it a magnet for international energy firms, particularly firms from Russia, India, China and other Asian countries.

Pakistan’s trade deficit in H1 of 2007 up by 27% YoY

Daily Times reported that Pakistan’s trade deficit during July to December 2007 period has witnessed an increase of 27% YoY to reach at USD 8.238 billion as compared to a deficit of USD 6.487 billion in July to December 2006 period.

According to the official figures, Pakistan’s exports, which are supposed to increase by 10%, have witnessed a growth of only 3.67% YoY to USD 8.715 billion as compared to the exports of USD 8.407 billion.

Imports during July to December 2007 period has witnessed a double digit increase and registered a growth of 13.82% YoY with total imports jumped to USD 16.953 billion as against the imports of USD 14.894 billion in July to December 2006 period.

Increase in oil prices in the international market and no substantial increase in major exportable items like textile products were responsible for widening gap between the imports and exports during this fiscal year.

Further increases in energy prices remained a risk for Pakistan’s economy, which is highly dependent on the oil imports. In Pakistan fuel imports represent more than 30% of merchandise imports. Accordingly, a sudden and marked slowdown in capital inflows or a discrete adjustment in global financial markets could have noticeable adverse economic effects on South Asian countries including Pakistan.

Qatar to build 2 condensate refinery project by 2008 end

The Peninsula reported that Qatar is developing 2 condensate refinery projects with a capacity of 146,000 barrels per day each at Ras Laffan Industrial City with the first expected to come on stream at the end of 2008, while the second refinery is under evaluation and slated for completion by 2012.

Refined products will be used to meet growing domestic demand for transportation fuels and to provide feedstock for downstream industries. Besides, Qatar Petroleum is evaluating overseas opportunities through QPI to use some of this condensate as feedstock.

Mr Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah deputy premier and minister of energy & industry of Qatar said that Qatar's condensate production is expected to reach around 700,000 barrels per day by 2012. He added that "Our strategy is to best utilise this resource through high value added projects. We believe that Qatar with its vast gas reserves, economic and political stability, its developed infrastructure and geographical location is qualified to become one of the most reliable and competitive source of condensate in the world and we have set a strategy to realize and maintain such a role in the global energy market."

Al Attiyah also stressed condensate splitters' impact in absorbing incremental condensate outputs by converting them to oil products and consequently adding value to production. He said "On a number of different fronts gas development, refining and petrochemicals condensate will become a key factor notably in the Middle East."

Asked whether the second splitter to be built was to replace Al Shaheen refinery, he said that Al Shaheen refinery is currently under Frontend Engineering & Design and is expected to be completed by the end of this year or even earlier. He added that "Al Shaheen is an oil refinery and is not related to the condensate splitter at all and are not replacing each other."

Maaden signs USD 100 million contracts with ABB

Arab News reported that Saudi Arabian Mining Company has signed a USD 100 million contract with ABB Contracting Co Limited for 2 electrical sub stations that will connect its phosphate and aluminium mega projects at Ras Al Zour to the national grid.

The contract is for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning and completion of 380 kV and 115 kV gas insulated switchgear substations at Ras Al Zour and certain related works, on a turnkey basis. The substations will initially provide power for the commissioning and start up of the phosphate operation and will subsequently be used for the import or export of approximately 600 to 1,100 MW of power from both the phosphate and aluminum projects at Ras Al Zour.

Dr Abdallah Dabbagh president & CEO of Maaden said that “The signing of this contract marks the first major milestone for our infrastructure works at Ras Al Zour, in the Eastern province. The high capacity and quality of infrastructure there will be critical to the efficiency of our phosphate and aluminum operations. We welcome ABB as our partner in delivering such important facilities to Maaden.”

Mr Abdullah Ibrahim Al Hobaib chairman of ABB Contracting Co said that “We are happy to be part of this prestigious project and look forward to a successful and long business relationship with Maaden.”

Maaden is a Saudi government wholly owned joint stock company established in 1997 in order to facilitate the development of the Kingdom’s non petroleum mineral resources and diversify the economy. It is engaged in the development, advancement and improvement of all aspects of the mineral industry, mineral products and by-products and related industries.

ABB Contracting Co Limited is specialized in execution of turnkey electro mechanical projects. A strong base of executed high voltage substations and industrial projects makes ABB Contracting one of the leaders in its field. It has installed more than 100 substations, ranging from 1 kV to 380 kV, throughout Saudi Arabia.

JGC Corporation plans to set up a unit in Saudi Arabia

It is reported that Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation is planning to set up a unit in Saudi Arabia to oversee petroleum, natural gas and other petrochemical projects as part of its expansion in the Middle East region.

Mr Masahiro Aika MD of JGC Arabia Limited said that "JGC Corporation sees the Middle East as the most important market since the region is increasing its investment in refinery and petrochemical production capacities on the back of rising oil prices."

Mr Aika said that "Our purpose of establishing this new company is to contribute to further economic growth of the kingdom and to strengthen the relationship between the two countries. By setting up a local unit, it hopes to find more business opportunities, mainly medium sized projects worth USD 500 million." He added that the unit would target annual sales turnover of some USD 500 million.

JGC Corporation provides engineering, procurement and construction services for various types of plants worldwide. It is currently involved in several mega projects in Saudi Arabia, including the petrochemical complex of Petro Rabigh, a JV between s Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical. Set up in Alkhobar with an initial capitalisation of about USD 20 million and some 150 staff, it would be expanded to about 500 eventually, including Saudi nationals during the next 5 years.

For the business year to March 2008, it expects more than 50% of its total sales turnover to come from plant construction projects in the Middle East. In December 207, it won a contract for an ethylene plant project of Saudi Polymers Company.

DIFC gets ISO 9001 : 2000 certification

Dubai International Financial Centre Authority has announced that it has been awarded an International Organisation for Standardization certification by Lloyd's Register.

Mr Nasser Al Shaali CEO of DIFC Authority said that” The ISO certificate illustrates our determination to meet the global requirements of businesses and justifies our efforts to promote best practice procedures throughout the DIFC."

The ISO 9001 : 2000 certification was awarded, in recognition of the DIFC Authority's commitment to continuous quality management and improvement of the services and operations at the DIFC.

S&P affirms ‘AA’ ICR rating for Abu Dhabi

Khaleej Times reported that Standard & Poor's ratings services has affirmed its ‘AA’ issuer credit rating and stable outlook on the emirate of Abu Dhabi, citing the government's very strong asset position and the Emirate's high level of stability and wealth underpinned by its rich resource endowment. The ratings are constrained primarily by the geopolitical risks facing all sovereigns in the region.

Mr Luc Marchand credit analyst at Standard & Poor's said that "The government of Abu Dhabi has accumulated substantial foreign and domestic assets over past decades. With no direct debt, the government net asset position is estimated by Standard & Poor's ratings services to be more than 200% of GDP in 2007."

On the back of rising oil and investment income, which dominate government revenues, the Emirate's budget has shown substantial surpluses over the past few years and is expected to continue doing so over the medium term. Standard & Poor's ratings services expect the consolidated government budget surplus to remain about 50% of GDP over the next few years.

The bulk of future surpluses are likely to be used for a further build-up of assets. Although public finance data is less transparent in Abu Dhabi than in other 'AA' category sovereigns, the level of information disclosed in the meetings between Standard & Poor's and the government authorities was greater than that generally publicly available and did not constrain the rating process.

Abu Dhabi's economic structure and growth are sound. Per capita income is higher than that of 'AA' rated peers, at an estimated USD 70,400 in 2008.

Iron ore price negotiations – Baosteel halts initial round

The Australian press has reported that China's lead negotiator Baosteel has halted annual price talks with major iron ore suppliers BHP Billiton Ltd, Rio Tinto and Vale saying the miners' price demands are too high.

The Australian Financial Review said an official from Anshan Iron and Steel, China's second-largest steel maker, had told the paper that Baosteel had ceased to negotiate. The official was quoted as saying that "At the moment the talks are at a standstill. We are not even close to reaching a consensus.”

As per unconfirmed reports from a Chinese trader in Shanghai, China had said prior to the start of negotiations that it would accept a 30% price rise, though the miners asked for a 50% rise.

China issues 1st list of coke export quota for 2008

It is reported that Chinese ministry of commerce has issued first batch of coke export quota for 2008 along with below notification on January 15th 2008.

As per report,
1. The first batch of coke export quota in 2008 is for the qualified export enterprises, with quota allocation mainly in light of the actual export volume from year 2005 to November 2007
2. All local business officials and departments should notify this to all involved enterprises, keep tracking their export condition and make timely report to the Foreign trade department of ministry of commerce.

As per report, the following method has been used
Merited quota = quota assigned this time* (0.75*A1+0.25*A2)
A1=the enterprise's export volume in recent three years/ total export of the nation
A2=the production enterprise's supply quantity to exporters in 2006/totaled supplies of the production enterprises to exporters that year
Notes: 0.25 represents weight of the production enterprises' supply quantity; 0.75 represents that of producers and exporters export volume.

The list is as under

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

BHPB marks milestone to Olympic countdown

It is reported that a key milestone to the countdown of the Beijing Olympics was marked when BHP Billiton delivered the raw materials, such as gold and silver needed to produce the medals, to the games organizer in Shanghai.

The raw materials were sourced from BHPB’s Cannington mine in Queensland and its Escondida and Spence operations in Chile. Escondida provided the copper concentrate containing the 13.04 kilograms of gold for the gold medals while Cannington supplied the lead concentrate for the 1,340 kilograms of silver that will be used in both gold and silver medals. Spence is the source of 6,930 kilograms of copper cathodes.

At a handover ceremony at Shanghai Mint, where the medals will be produced over the next six months, Mr Clinton Dines BHP's China President said that the determining factor in selecting the assets for the project was the ability to involve as many BHP employees and partners as possible from its operations around the world.

Mr Dines said all the materials were sourced and shipped free to China, given BHP's role as the official minerals and medals sponsor for the Beijing Games. He declined to say how much the firm spent on the materials.

Shanghai Mint will create a total of 1,000 medals each for gold, silver and bronze categories for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Spence's copper cathodes will also be used to make 51,000 commemorative medals, which all participants at the Games will get.

Chinese exporters upbeat on HRC price

It is reported that Chinese hot rolled steel coil export offers have kept firm now and there is strong likelihood that prices would continue to edge up. Some producers continue to raise export quotations citing tight supply and excessive orders.

As per report now most offers for commodity grade 4.75mm to 11.5mm HRC are prevailing at USD 690 per tonne FOB, while some steel makers have shoot up to USD 700 per tonne FOB up.

An export director with a steel mill said that "Despite higher level, there is not enough allocation for exports due to robust overseas demand. We could not assure supply at USD 690 per tonne FOB at moment."

Sources say that some traders have taken position last week, with transaction price at USD 690 per tonne to USD 700 per tonne FOB. They seem to be quite optimistic and held that price is going to exceed USD 700 per tonne FOB sooner or later.

Yuan breaks 7.25 mark

Chinese yuan has hit a new high against the US dollar on Tuesday, breaking the 7.25 mark to reach a central parity rate of 7.2454 yuan to one dollar. The yuan, also known as the Renminbi, went up 112 basis points from Monday.

Analysts said mounting expectations for interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve of the United States helped push down the US dollar continuously. On Monday, the greenback went down on global FOREX markets in response to the news about Citibank writing off 24 billion dollars of assets.

The yuan rose 6.9% against the dollar last year and has appreciated against the greenback by more than 12% since a new currency regime was imposed in July 2005 to discontinue the local currency's peg to the dollar.

The analysts forecast that the Chinese currency would appreciate at least 7% to 10 percent against the US dollar for the whole of 2008.

Rising yuan is a nightmare for Chinese exporters, especially the smaller ones. Tens of thousands of small and medium sized exporters face closure because of the rising yuan and scrapped or reduced export tax rebates. The smaller firms don't have that easy an access to such financial tools to manage their foreign exchange risks.

ArcelorMittal begins overall plan of buying China Oriental

It is reported that the ArcelorMittal, who has been eyeing on Chinese steel enterprises, started officially on January 14th 2008 its overall purchase plan to China Oriental Group Holding Corporation.

ArcelorMittal said that they have submitted the purchase proposal to the related departments and had not received any notice against the deal.

ArcelorMittal said that the purchase started on January 14th and the deadline is February 2nd 2008. It will pay firstly at HKD 6.12 per share and the total purchase price will not exceed HKD 6 billion.

Metals X raises cash from China for Renison

Metals X announced that it had raised AUD 59.4 million in a new share placement with two Chinese groups. Existing major shareholder Jinchuan Group is to inject AUD 17.7 million for 59 million shares at USD 0.30 per share, while APAC Resources will contribute AUD 41.7 million for 139 million shares, 14% of Metals X’s equity.

The placement provides working capital which will be used in the re opening of the Renison and Mt Bischoff tin mines in Tasmania this year, which is expected around mid year. A feasibility study on the treatment of tailings at Renison is also under way. However the Chinese companies may be more interested in Metals X’s large Wingellina nickel project which will be advancing through feasibility studies during the year.

Mr Peter Cook MD of Metals X said that “The confidence that China’s largest nickel producer, Jinchuan, has shown in Wingellina as its prime nickel oxide project is a major endorsement of its potential. Further, the interest and entry of the Shougang Steel backed APAC Resources to the register is a further recognition of the significant asset portfolio of the group and the potential for shareholder value to be enhanced as each of the projects progresses to production.”

APAC Resources is a Hong Kong listed company backed by several PRC steel mills including the Shougang Group Corporation, one of China’s largest steelmakers, as its major shareholder.

General Steel acquires controlling interest in Hancheng Tongxing

General Steel Holdings Inc announced that through its joint venture, Shaanxi Longmen Iron and Steel Co has obtained final government approval to acquire a controlling interest in Hancheng Tongxing Metallurgy Co Ltd. Final government approval was received January 10th 2008. The acquisition will contribute to revenues and is expected to be accretive to earnings.

The JV entered into an agreement with Hancheng Tongxing Metallurgy Co Ltd to contribute its own land of 217,487 square meters at the appraised value of CNY 30,227,333. Pursuant to the agreement, the land will be converted into shares valued at approximately CNY 22,744,419 providing the Joint Venture with a stake of 22.76% in Tongxing and making it Tongxing's largest and controlling shareholder.

Mr Henry Yu CEO & Chairman of General Steel said ''We are extremely happy to attain a controlling interest position in Tongxing. As a fully integrated steel producing facility, we are keenly interested in gaining greater control over both the supply of and costs of our raw materials. Tongxing's operations in coking coal, power generation and, most importantly, iron ore are key in enhancing our ability to control input costs and bolster gross margins.''

General Steel Holdings Inc headquartered in Beijing, operates a diverse portfolio of Chinese steel companies. With 3 million tonnes aggregate production capacity, its companies serve various industries and produce a variety of steel products including reinforced bar, hot rolled carbon and silicon sheet and spiral weld pipe. The Company has steel operations in Shaanxi province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Tianjin municipality.

Liuzhou targets 8 million tonne steel output in 2008

It is reported that Liuzhou Iron & Steel Co Ltd has vowed at a workers' congress that it will produce 7.6 million tonnes of iron, 8 million tonnes of steel and over 8 million tonnes of steel products in 2008 to realize prime operating revenue of more than CNY 30 billion and other operating revenue of CNY 3 billion.

Liuzhou Iron & Steel Co Ltd will pour another CNY 3 billion to wash out obsolete capacities and raise technical levels. Besides, it will further perfect projects that have been out into operation, in a bid to hit capacity targets at the soonest.

Moreover, it will cut duration of heating of convertors, keep balance between iron, steel and steel products as well as raise the proportion of variety steel.

Antai Group plans to purchase Xintai Steel

Antai Group announced that it plans to purchase 100% stock right of Jiexiu city iron and steel company through collecting capital with share matching.

The capital will be used in the construction of 0.8 million tonnes slag granulation project, 0.2 million tonne coke oven gas project and 0.1 million tonne dimethyl ether project as well as takeover bid for Xintai Steel.

Up to December 31st 2007, the total capital assets of Xintai steel was CNY 1.881 billion and the net capital was CNY 0.662 billion. In 2007, the company achieved main income CNY 2.487 billion and net profit CNY 63 million.

Antai Group and Xintai Steel have many related transactions. Majority of Antai’s iron water is supplied to Xintai steel and the company supplies electricity to Xintai steel.

Luosiwu Coal mine fire in Jiangxi kills 6 miners

Xinhua reported that 6 people have been confirmed dead and one other remains missing after a fire occurred on Saturday in a colliery in east China's Jiangxi Province.

The report cited a spokesman with the provincial work safety administration as saying that “Altogether seven workers were working in the pit when the fire broke out in the shafts more than 100 meters underground at Luosiwu Coal Mine at 8:30 AM in Yanshan County of Jiangxi.”

He added that “Rescuers recovered six bodies from the shaft on Sunday morning and the victims were estimated to be killed by toxic gas sent by the fire. Rescuers are still searching for the missing, though there seems slim chance for him to survive.”

Investigators said that a short circuit might have occurred and ignited the cables underground.

The Luosiwu Coal Mine, run by the Yanglin Township government, has official operation licenses. It is designed to produce 40,000 tonnes of coal per year.

Valin Steel to invest CNY 313.93 million to build a new line

According to Valin Steel Company that its filiale Valin Xianggang plans to invest CNY 313.93 million to introduce a international advanced high speed production line and on line heat treatment technology.

As per reports, it will put into production after two years, and the sales income is estimated to increase CNY 1.316 billion, net profit will increase CNY 12.86 million, the EBITDA for 5 years after the investment will be reach CNY340.7 million.

Shanxi Taigang gets conditional approval for share sale plan

It is reported that Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co China's biggest maker of the alloy, won conditional approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell shares.

Shanxi Taigang earlier said it plans to sell as many as CNY 350 million denominated shares to fund the construction of a cold-rolled stainless steel plant.

China Fire to unveil new fire code for the steel industry

It is reported that China Fire & Security Group Inc, a leading industrial fire protection products and solutions provider in China, hosted a compliance training conference for more than sixty representatives from eleven iron & steel companies. The three day conference focused on the new fire code regulations for China's iron and steel manufacturing factories. The new code was announced in April 2007 and became effective on January 1st 2008.

The training conference was held in Beijing. Four of China's ten largest iron & steel companies participated as well as representatives from other iron & steel manufacturing companies and two system installation companies.

At the conference, participants were thoroughly familiarized with the specific requirements of the new fire code and the new standards for fire protection systems for iron and steel plants constructed after the enforcement of the new code. China Fire through its wholly owned subsidiary, Sureland Industrial Fire Safety Limited, was one of the two editorial members in drafting this new fire code.

With the introduction of this code, iron and steel companies must meet strict government safety standards requiring the strengthening of their fire protection capabilities in the construction of new plants. As the No 1 industrial fire protection system provider in China, China Fire has been working closely with its clients so that they are compliant with the new code in their expansion projects as well as in retrofitting their existing facilities

Mr Brian Lin, CEO of China Fire said that "We are very pleased that our compliance training was so well received. 100% of the participants reported that they were extremely satisfied with our efforts. We know that they'd received the precisely targeted training they desired."

Mr Lin added that "The iron and steel industry fire regulations are just one of the industry regulations that we have been developing together with central and provincial governments. China Fire has been drafting new fire codes for several different industries. We believe these efforts will strengthen our competitive advantage across manufacturing industries and will build a foundation for our future."

Regrouped Pangang integrates steel industry in Southwest China

It is reported that on January 8th 2008 Pangang Group held a ceremony for Pangang Group Xichang New Steel Enterprise Company Ltd inaugurating, which means the largest iron and steel company made progress on integrating iron and steel industry in Southwest China.

Before this, Pangang Group had merged Chengdu Seamless Pipe Plant, Chengdu Iron and Steel and Sichuan Changcheng Special Steel Group Company.

According to the agreement signed between Pangang Group and Xichang New Steel Enterprise Company, Pangang Group will hold 66% of the stock and has a preferred right of allocating resources in Liangshan County, Sichuan Province. Pangang will construct a base of vanadium titanium steel here.

Chinese installed electric power capacity reaches 713 million KW

Xinhua reported that China's installed capacity of electric power reached 713 million kilowatts at the end of 2007 up from 622 million kilowatts in 2006, maintaining an overall balance of supply and demand, the country's electricity council said on Sunday.

After two generating units with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts in Tianwan nuclear power plant went into operation, the installed capacity of nuclear power rose to 8.85 million kilowatts at the end of 2007. Tianwan nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power station in Asia, is located in the city of Lianyungang, eastern China's Jiangsu province.

China installed capacity of hydropower and thermal power climbed to 145 million kilowatts and 554 million kilowatts, both up more than 10%YoY.

Minmetal increases capital in Minmetals Guizhou Ferroalloys

Minmetals Development Co Ltd announced that, as per the signed agreements, it would increase capital of CNY 219.104 million to Minmetals Hunan Ferroalloys Co Ltd whilst State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Hunan Provincial Government will add CNY 57.276 million.

After the capital increase the company's registered capital will become to CNY 286.38 million. Minlist owns 79.3%; State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Hunan Provincial Government, 20%; MINCO, 0.7%.

It also said in the announcement that it plans to purchase major bankrupt's assets of Hunan Ferroalloy Group, Hunan Ferroalloy Company Limited and other subsidiaries of Hunan Ferroalloy Group as well as Xingxin Company at a price of CNY 286.38 million.

Steel export from Guangzhou in H2 falls by 56% YoY

According to statistics of Guangzhou Customs, steel exports from Guangdong province has fallen sharply by 56.3% to 0.988 million tonnes from the second half of last year.

However, the full year export value rose 39.3%YoY to CNY 2.22 billion as a result of escalating export price against downslide export volume.

Commercial HR sheet and bar products are the main products shipped from Guangdong via general trade. The above products shipment has dropped 14.3% to 0.66 million tonnes after Beijing tightens the grip from last May.

However, the export price keeps rising up despite the volume shrink. Last year, the average export price of steel plate and bar products from Guangdong grows 37.8% to USD 951 per tonne and 26% to USD 514 per tonne respectively.

Panzhihua gets steel rail export inspection exemption

It is reported that Panzhihua Steel was been granted inspection exemption of its exports of 50 kilogram per meter to 75 kilogram per meter steel rails from General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on January 11th 2008.

Officials from AQSIQ at the issuing ceremony said that "This means products from China's biggest steel rails exporter can enjoy convenient and smooth 'green channel'."

To gain inspection exemption, the product shall be self-owned brand, without any quality discrepancy, claim for compensation or sales returns in international market and with qualified rate of 100% for three consecutive years.

According to AQSIQ, so far there are 110 enterprises in China that have gained export inspection exemption.

US to put 51% AD on China’s pipe imports

YIEH reported that the anticipated anti dumping duty of up to 51% imposed by US government against China’s piping products is pressuring pipe producers to compete in the US market.

It is claimed by US authorities that the unjustified subsidization of Chinese government on its steel industry has made producers be capable to sell products below market prices.

As per report 26 Chinese pipe makers have been targeted for imposing AD duties with different levels, including China Tianjin Shuangjie Group of 51.34%. Chinese US commerce department has scheduled to announce the final result of AD review against Tianjin Shuangjie Group in May.

Since the high duties may shrink 5% to 10% profit of pipe producers’ profits, Chinese companies are considering stopping the export to the US market after this practice is activated. Affected by this, Chinese pipe exporters are not seeing positive development in US pipe market.

China has exported around 220,000 tons of pipes globally in 2007.

Evraz Group reports higher steel output in 2007

Evraz Group announced that it has increased its steel output in 2007 by 1.4% YoY to 16.33 million tonnes as compared to 16.115 million tonnes in 2006.

Its cast iron production dropped by 1.4% YoY from 12.754 million tonnes in 2006 to 12.575 million tonnes in 2007. But output of rolled products increased by 5.3% to 15.22 million tonnes in 2007 from 14.46 million tonnes in 2006.

Evraz produced 4.232 million tonnes of steel, 3.33 million tonnes of cast iron and 4.02 million tonnes of rolled products in October to December 2007 quarter.

Detailed report shall be published tomorrow

Uralmash to supply pallet plant to MGOK

It is reported that Uralmash Machine Building Corporation and Mikhailovskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise have signed an agreement regarding the delivery of a roast machine and putting up all the corresponding facilities on the premises of the enterprise’s future pellet plant.

It will take Uralmash 23 months to design, manufacture and supply the equipment. The new machine MOK-1-592 will have the annual capacity of 5 million tonnes of pellets. The deal is worth more than RUB 5 billion.

This contract resulted from a tender where Uralmash had to compete with the Finnish Outotec and the Austrian Siemens-VAI.

The machine itself as well as the automatic process control system is to be designed by Uralmash Machine Building Corporation and TOREX’s experts. The machine will be manufactured by Uralmashzavod and Orsk based ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co. Design, manufacturing.

A release from Uralmashzavod said “MOK-1-592 roast machine is a highly automated piece of equipment capable of minimizing both the energy spending and harmful atmospheric emissions. This product is quite unique and has not yet been matched by any foreign counterpart.”

Mikhailovskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise is currently using two OK-520 roast machines that were produced by Uralmashzavod and launched in 1977. At the time, these were the newest machines available with the total throughput of 6 million tonnes of iron ore pellets a year.

Alchevsk increases 2006 steel output by 6.3% YoY

According to Ukraine government, Ukraine's Alchevsk Steel Plant increased crude steel output to 3.948 million tonnes in 2007 or 6.3% higher than in 2006.

It said the company had increased pig iron output by 12% to 3.318 million tonnes last year and raised rolled steel production by 9.3% to 3.563 million.

The plant's owner Industrial Union of Donbass has said it aims to double crude steel output to 7.5 million tonnes by 2008 by building two new converters.

Alchevsk located in eastern Ukraine, produced 3.721 million tonnes of crude steel, 2.923 million tonnes of pig iron and 2.879 million tonnes of rolled steel in 2005.

NLMK develops HDG coating without hexvalent chromium

FIS reported that NLMK developed the production of metal roll with coating in conformity with 2000/53/EC and 2002/95/EC.

Chemical treatment of hot zinc plated band is now carried out using anti corrosion compositions containing no ecologically harmful sexivalent chromium without detriment to protective characteristics and quality.

Another technology to be used by NLMK in the production of zinc plated roll will allow making roll with retained crystallization pattern without the use of lead.

Russian metallurgists ask MEDT to protect from Chinese dumping

FIS reported that at the end of December, Russian metallurgists filed a request with the Ministry for Economic Development and Transport asking to introduce anti dumping measures with respect to imports of metal roll with polymer coating from China and other countries.

Over the last year imports to Russia of such products doubled while the share of Russian producers decreased by 7%. Consumption of metal roll with polymer coating totaled 740,000 tonnes in 2006, a ten fold growth as compared with 2000. The Ministry abstained from any comments regarding the request.

Raspadskaya boosts 2007 output by 28% YoY

Reuters reported that Russian coal miner Raspadskaya raised total coal output 27.7%YoY to 13.55 million tonnes in 2007.

Raspadskaya, part owned by steel maker Evraz Group, said in a statement that its total raw coal output in the fourth quarter of 2007 rose 10%YoY to 3.26 million tonnes. But production declined by 12% when compared with the preceding three months. The company did not give a reason but said the figures were in line with its mining development plan.

Raspadskaya, which floated shares in Moscow in November 2006, operates one opencast and two underground mines in the western Siberian region of Kemerovo. Another underground mine is under construction. Raspadskaya is owned 80% by Corber Enterprises, a joint venture between its management and Evraz, Russia's largest steel maker by domestic volume.

Mechel appoints Mr Deineko as steel division director

Mechel has announced the appointment of Mr Andrey Deineko as its Steel Division Director. Mr Andrey Deineko will be in charge of developing Mechel’s steel segment, carrying out operational management, planning and controlling operations of Mechel’s steel assets.

Prior to this appointment, Mr Deineko held the position of Director of the Department of Industry in the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy from 2005 to 2007, having been Deputy Director of this Department from 2004 to 2005. He was Director of the Department of Industrial and Innovative Policy in the Russian Ministry of Industry and Science from 2002 to 2004. From 1999 to 2002 Mr Deineko was Deputy General Director of Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant OAO. He held the position of Deputy General Director of INTERFIN Interbank Investment and Finance Company ZAO from 1998 to 1999 and Director of Supply Division of Zapad-Elite ZAO from 1997 to 1998. From 1976 to 1997, he was engineer, senior engineer, senior researcher, laboratory head, Department Head, and Deputy Director at the Bardin Central Scientific and Research Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy. He has been awarded the title of Honorable Metallurgist.

Mr Deineko graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys with the specialty of Engineer of Metallurgy, and obtained his post-graduate degree in technical sciences from the same institute.

Mr Vladimir Polin CEO of Mechel Management OOO said “We are very pleased that such a high level professional, who obtained an education in metallurgy and has extensive experience in various scientific, commercial, production, and government agencies, will join our team as our Steel Division Director. We are sure that his knowledge and experience will enable Mechel to develop and strengthen its steel business segment even more intensively and to efficiently implement capital investment programs at its subsidiaries, thus further enhancing our market position.”

MMK-METIZ sets up new welded mesh line

FIS reported that Magnitogorsk Hardware and Calibration Plant put online a new line of Clifford to make welded mesh from low carbon wire for ferroconcrete reinforcement.

The wire used is of the regular profile of class VR-1 and V-500S with the diameter ranging from 3mm to 8 mm with the cell size from 50mm and larger.

Due to the new line its production in 2007 grew to 4,138 tonnes. Welded meshes are in demand in the construction market and allow decreasing labor intensity as compared to the use of reinforcement made on the construction site.

Vyksa to visit Japan for plate price negotiation

It is reported that Russian pipe major OMK’s Vyksa Steel Works will send a delegation to visit Japan at the end of January, 2008, mainly involving discussions of the price for plate used in producing UO pipe.

The offers from Japan have been not confirmed at present. As VSW has realized, Japan’s steel manufactured plate output is very tight, so VSW will try to increase the plate supply from Japan.

As per report in order to increase UO pipe output, other Russian manufacturers are also sending inquiries to Japan for a total quantity of up to 2.5 million tonnes. However, Japanese manufacturers are delaying the time set for negotiations.

Mr Fedorov appointed as new GD of SUEK Krasnoyarsk

It is reported that Mr Andrey Fedorov has been appointed as a new director general of OJSC SUEK-Krasnoyarsk after the death of Mr Alexander Kuznetsov.

Mr Andrey Fedorov was born in 1958. He graduated from the Physics department of the Moscow Mining Institute in 1982. He worked as a mine foreman, shift engineer, chief production engineer of Berezovsky mine of Krasnoyarskugol Production Union from 1982 to 1991. In 1991 he worked as deputy chief engineer on cyclic technology, chief engineer and technical director of Berezovsky Razrez joint-stock company. He has been working in the affiliate of OJSC SUEK in Krasnoyarsk since 2005.

Chornobyl NPP signs contract with four Companies

Ukrainian News reported that the Chornobyl NPP state specialized enterprise has signed a contract with four companies to accomplish the reinforcing works at the Shelter facility. The contract was signed on January 10th 2008 between the NPP and the Russian company Atomstroieksport and the Ukrainian companies Pivdenteploenerhomontazh, Atomenerhobudproekt.

The contract includes repair of the Shelter's light top, installation of physical protection mechanisms on access ways, and additional jacking of support beams to make them able to stand a load of 80%.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in March 2006, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a national program for decommissioning the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and transforming the shelter over the plant's destroyed reactor into the ecologically safe facility.

On July 9th 2004, the state specialized enterprise Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant signed a contract with the Stabilization consortium valued at USD 49 million for implementation of structural stability work on the Ukryttia facility. The Stabilization consortium was made up of the Russian company Atomstroieksport and the Ukrainian companies Pivdenteploenerhomontazh, Atomenerhobudproekt and the Department for Construction of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant.

Turkmen blames pipe line repair work for stopping supplies to Iran

Interfax cited Turkmen’s interior ministry in a statement said that Turkmenistan has suspended gas supplies to Iran due to technical problems and the need to finance gas pipeline repair work.

The statement said "Gas supplies to Iran were suspended due to technical reasons owing to the need for repair and prophylactic work on the corresponding pipeline. Such work is carried out in line with accepted technological standards and requires some time."

The statement also said that "In this connection, it should be noted that repair and prophylactic work is being hampered by Iran's failure to meet its payment obligations for earlier supplied Turkmen gas."

Turkmenistan exports 23 million cubic meters of gas per day.

Azerbaijan a world leader GDP growth in 2007

Interfax cited Mr Fuad Akhundov a sector head of the presidential social and political affairs department as saying that International financial institutions have confirmed the high pace of Azerbaijan's economic development, and country's regional leadership,

He said that "The country's economic development indicators said at a January 11th 2008 Cabinet meeting in Baku, chaired by Mr Ilham Aliyev president of Republic of Azerbaijan, characterize Azerbaijan as a world leader in the pace of GDP growth."

Mr Akhundov said that GDP growth was 24.7% in 2007 with industrial growth of 24% and approached USD 30 billion. He said “Indicatively, growth in 2007 was achieved on a basis of the record 35% growth in 2006."

He added that "The volume of the country's economy has nearly doubled in the past four years an achievement that has no precedent in the world."