The Steel Market Futures Briefing

Steel Market Futures Briefing will cover billet, rebar, wire rod and related raw materials such as scrap, HBI and DRI. We believe that the upcoming launch of steel futures trading on the LME will increase the need for detailed analysis on all aspects of the long products sector.

Steel Market Futures Briefing will be the first regular research report to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the long steel products market within the context of the development of steel futures. Underlying all markets are the fundamentals of physical supply and demand, but the development of futures markets will add an extra layer of complexity.

Steel Market Futures Briefing will analyze steel raw materials (ferrous scrap and HBI/DRI), semi-finished billet and finished long products of rebar and wire rod, providing accurate, independently-sourced data on production and trade. It will examine the physical markets on a regional basis and identify likely trading arbitrage opportunities across intra-regional markets on a global level, as well as applying value analysis on the margins between raw materials, intermediate and finished products. The report will also provide price forecasts out for 12 months on a product and regional basis.

GFMS Metals Consulting is established as a leading consultancy examining base and precious metal physical and futures markets and publishes extensively on steel physical markets with its Steel Market Forecast Briefing and Steel Market Strategic Briefing, which analyze the current, short-term and medium-term markets for steel flat products. Companies can subscribe just to the regions that affect their business - North America, Europe, Asia and Emerging Markets. This approach offers subscribers the opportunity to make massive savings compared to some other newsletters that cover the sector.
Steel Market Futures Briefing offers the potential for massive costs savings compared to other information sources.

You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com, who will send you an invoice of USD 1485 for the report

Indian Railways withdraw surcharge on iron ore for steel mills

It is reported that the Indian Railways has decided to withdraw the freight surcharge on iron ore to steel units. This move is expected to ease the cost burden on the steel majors substantially.

Indian Railways had imposed a 60% surcharge for the iron ore transported to steel companies’ sidings.

The report cited an official of Indian Railway as saying that "We have already reclassified iron ore under class 170 bringing it down from class 180 affecting a freight cut by 5%. This is expected to further ease the price of steel. However, iron ore for exports may continue to attract a 100% surcharge and its prices have almost doubled in the last one year.”

Also on the anvil are plans to waive the 60% surcharge on iron ore transported to ports.

As per provisional data, Indian Railways transported 53.59 million tonnes of iron ore for exports in 2007-08 up by 37.9% YoY as compared to 38.84 million tonnes in 2006-07.

POSCO project expected to get nod from Orissa government

ET reported that South Korean steel giant POSCO USD 12 billion projects in India may finally get going with the government expected to give nod to its proposal for iron ore mining lease and forest diversion clearance plan almost simultaneously next month.

The report cited an official source as saying that “The government is according utmost priority to the POSCO project. In this regard its proposal for prospecting license for Khandhadhar iron ore block in Orissa would be given as soon as the state sends its recommendations to the Centre. The Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee on environment has also said that it would recommend for land diversion clearance once there is clarity on mining lease for the project.”

POSCO project requires captive iron ore mines with reserves of about 600 million tonnes. While the state has identified three blocks at Khandhadhar, Melang Toli and Thakurani for the project only Khandhadhar is close to be being offered to the steel maker. The state is conducting a public hearing from other applicants for the same block and expects to conclude the process by July 26, before finalizing the name of POSCO as the most deserving applicant for the iron ore block with a firm investment commitment and project development plan. Though the mining block has a reserve of about 200 million tonnes of iron ore, sufficient to meet just one third of POSCO total requirement, it could support entire first phase of the steel project.

On the forest diversion plan clearance, the matter has reached the final stages as both state and the Centre have cleared the application and CEC is waiting for clearance of mining rights before recommending PL for Khandhadhar in favor of POSCO. The company has submitted its application of forest diversion plan for changing the land use of 3,093 acre of forest land on its project site of 4,004 acres. This clearance would mean that POSCO would be in possession of over 3,500 acre of government land soon. It would then begin the process to acquire the remaining about 450 acre of private land.

The project has been awaiting formal clearances for almost three years now. Grant of the two clearances would be major step forward in salvaging the steel major’s 12 million tonne steel project that has been in the midst of controversy ever since an MoU was inked in 2005. The company hopes to begin work on the first phase of 4 million tonnes capacity immediately after getting land and mining clearance and targets to complete it ahead of original schedule of 36 months.

POSCO spokesperson said “We could begin work on the project even if we get a portion of the total project land. Anticipating final lot clearances for the project soon, the company has already finalized a rehabilitation and resettlement plan that has even bettered the one finalized by the state government.”

Essar joins race for Kremikovtzi - Report

Economic Times reported that the Essar Steel has set sights on the Bulgarian steel mill Kremikovtzi.

The report cited an Essar Steel spokesperson telling ET that they could join the bidding process. He said that “As in other proposals, Essar Steel is considering to participate in the offer for sale as issued by Kremikovtzi.”

MMTC gets USD 835 FOB for pig iron

Bloomberg reported that Steel Base Trade AG has offered USD 835 per tonne FOB to buy 30,000 tonnes of pig iron from India's state run trading company MMTC Ltd.

The report said MMTC offered to sell pig iron for delivery this month.

(Sourced from www.steelprices.com)

Villagers unhappy with settlement by Brahmini Steels

Express News Service reported that villagers of Chittimiti Chintala, Kothaguntapalle, Vemuguttapalle and C Bommepalle besieged Brahmini Steels recently denouncing the management’s failure to fulfill its promises.

The villager said only 28 people of Chittimiti Chintala were given jobs by the steel plant management though it promised jobs for 120 villagers during land acquisition. The management allotted 22 acres for the villagers for housing. They demanded that 360 acres be allotted for them as promised by Mr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Mr G Janardhan Reddy chairman of Brahmini Steels for housing, grazing ground for cattle and other needs.

The report added that the villagers pointed out that only 25% of the assured INR 0.27 million per acre was paid to them as compensation.

Brahmini Steels representative Mr Venkata Reddy, Muddanur ZPTC member Mr C Sivanath Reddy and Mr CI Ramanji Naik along with Jammalamadugu MLA Mr C Adinarayana Reddy reached the spot and pacified the agitators. The villagers gave up the siege following an assurance by the MLA that justice would be done to them.

Small steel users reactions to price control measures

Express News Service reported that steel users industry has expressed its dissatisfaction over the move taken by steel ministry over steel price control.

Mr Joginder Kumar president of federation of tiny and small industries said “Steel producers have been asked to reduce the prices substantially. In the case of steel tubes and pipes a ceiling of INR 48,000 has been fixed. At present these are being sold at more than INR 53,000 per tonne. However, the actual price is INR 41,000, so the move is of little effect.”

However, the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial undertakings have appreciated the move of reduction in steel prices by 10% of the existing market prices. Mr PD Sharma president of Apex Chamber and Commerce said “The steel producers have assured the government to improve the supply of steel. The role of retailers shall be controlled. They have also given the assurance that there will be no increase in prices in the near future.”

He said that the steel prices in our country are more by USD 100 per tonne on an average as compared to the domestic price in China and other countries. Our rates need to be compared with the domestic price of other countries and not with the spot international prices.

Calcutta HC approve Ramsarup Industries amalgamation

Ramsarup Industries Ltd has informed BSE that the Honble Calcutta High Court was pleased to approve the Scheme of Amalgamation of Ramsarup Lohh Udyog Ltd with the Company vide its order dated June 30th 2008.

Prakash Industries to establish cement plant in Chattisgarh

Prakash Industries Ltd has informed BSE that it has entered into MoU with the Government of Chhattisgarh on July 1st 2008 to establish and operate 2 million tonnes per annum cement plant & 1 million tonnes per annum clinker plant in the state of Chhattisgarh with an investment of approximately INR 485 crores.

According to the announcement, the state government will assist the company in allotment of a captive coal block & captive lime stone mine for the projects and facilitate and provide all incentives available to industrial projects in the state as per the applicable industrial policy of the state government of the incentives that are offered to similar projects or as may be announced in this regard from time to time.

Kanishk Steel net profit in 2007-08 reaches INR.10.32 crores

RTT News reported that Kanishk Steel standalone net profit for the year ended March 31st 2008 up by INR 10.32 crores from INR 9.93 crores in the previous year. Total income increased to INR 415.72 crores.

Kanishk Steel posted net loss of INR 0.12 crores in the fourth quarter ended March 31st 2008 as compared to net profit of INR.2.30 crores reported in the corresponding quarter of last year. Total income declined to INR 63.44 crores from INR 98.45 crores in the year ago quarter.

Sikkim scraps three more hydel projects

PTI reported that the Sikkim government has scrapped three more projects in the state because of the delay in execution of the contracts by the private developers after discarding four hydel projects in March.

The three hydel projects include
1. Sada-Mangder in West and South districts
2. Bhasmey in East district
3. Rongnichu in East district

According to the report, the Sada-Mangder and Bhasmey hydel projects were awarded to Gati Investments in November 2003, while the Rongnichu hydel project was awarded to Madhya Bharat Power Corporation in March 2006.

Sikkim government had earlier scrapped four other hydel projects in North Sikkim considering the sentiments of the indigenous Athup Lepcha tribe living in the area who were launching agitations led by the affected citizens of Teesta.

BSEB signs MoU with Nalanda Power Company

Bihar Times reported that a MoU was signed between the Bihar government and Kolkata based Nalanda Power Company for setting up a 2000 MW coal based thermal power plant at Pirpainty in Bhagalpur district.

The MoU was signed between Mr Arvind K Singh secretary of Bihar State Electricity Board and Mr Prabir Neogi Director of the Nalanda Power Company. The state power minister, Mr Ramashray Prasad Singh was present on the occasion.

The report added that, the estimated cost of the project is INR 5,000 crore and the first plant is likely to be completed by 2012.

About 600 acres of land have already been identified at Manikpur village in Pirpainty for the first phase of plant which would have a capacity to generate 1,000 MW. TATA Consultancy has prepared its pre-feasibility report.

The plant will also get coal linkages through Rajmahal coal mines in the neighboring Sahabganj district of Jharkhand.

Read this, if steel prices influence your bottom line...

A steel user, however big or small, is always concerned about steel buying as it is normally a big ticket item, but there is no bench mark available to steel buyers to compare their transaction prices, which in a big way decided their bottom line. Lastly, steel has been very volatile in last 6 months and has effected many users in a very severe way making it all the more important to track the prices and trends.

www.steelprices-india.com is a new portal that provides domestic pricing information for benchmark steel products in each category at select location in China on a regular basis 5 days a week. In addition, FOB levels for commonly exported steel products from two of the major exporting nation Ukraine & Russia and China are also available on daily basis to give a sense of alternates.

This would assist persons, including steel makers, traders, users and others, who are connected with industry in some way to asses the steel pricing trends and utilize in their day to day working to take considered decisions.

Benchmark products at select locations cover the entire basket of garden variety of steel products including input material for steel making and processing.

All these features are accessible only to registered user who is provided with a login id and password after payment is received. To know more about the service, please logon to the web site and click on “Features”, “Subscription” and if you like the service on “Registration”.

www.steelprices-india.com is developed and run by none other that www.steelguru.com, which has become the largest English based steel portal in the world, with more than 1 million page hits per month in just 3 years of operations.

Ship plate cuttings prices at Alang (WEEK 27)

Alang
Plate cuttings
Rolling
1”

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic rebar price trends (WEEK 27)

TMT (Local mills)
Fe 415
12mm

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic steel scrap price trends (WEEK 27)

Melting scrap
80:20
HMS

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic pencil ingot price trends (WEEK 27)

Pencil ingot

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic wire rod price trends (WEEK 27)

WRC
SWR14
5.5/6

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic light sections price trends (WEEK 27)

ANGL
GR A
65x6

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

CHNL
GR A
75/100

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic medium beam price trends (WEEK 27)

JSTI
GR A
250x125

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

Indian domestic CR price trends (WEEK 27)

CR
DSK
0.63x1000

Price in INR per tonne
Inclusive of ED and VAT
Delivery – FOT

(Sourced from www.steelprices-india.com)

South Korean steel mills increase plate prices

According to market sources, Dongkuk Steel has already informed local customers that the company intends to execute a domestic price increase of KRW 250,000 per tonne (USD 240) for heavy plates from July 1st 2008. The price increase is intended to meet the outlook that the company will sign up for Brazilian slabs at a high price level for July to September shipments. With the price increase, the new sales prices of heavy plates are KRW 1,260,000 per tonne for ship plates and KRW 1,290,000 per tonne (USD 1,236) for commodity grade heavy plates.

POSCO has also announced a domestic price increase of KRW 135,000 per tonne to KRW 920,000 per tonne for ship plates from July 1st 2008 as compared with Dongkuk Steel's new ship plate price of KRW 1,260,000 per tonne. As a result, it remains to be seen whether POSCO will opt to execute another price increase.

Meanwhile, Japan's integrated steelmakers are scheduled to start their ship plate export negotiations shortly with South Korea's shipbuilding companies for shipments in October to March next. With globally tight supplies of heavy plates, it is likely that the Japanese steelmakers will offer increased prices in the ship plate exports they negotiate with the Korean customers.

Brazilian slabs reach USD 1,050 FOB levels

TEX reported that South Korean steelmaker Dongkuk Steel Mill Co is in the final stages of its negotiations to take Brazilian slabs for heavy plates at a price level of USD 1,050 per tonne FOB or USD 1,150 per tonne CNF for shipments in the July to September quarter.

The world's slab supply demand conditions continue tight. In Asia, China's slab exports have trended downward since they came under an export tax. As a result, they are said to have ended in virtually nil for May shipments.

(Sourced from TEX Report Ltd)

World crude steel production figures for 1970 to 2007

According from a release from International iron and Steel Institute, production of global crude steel in 2007 reached 1344 million tonne up by 7.4% YoY as compared to 1251 million tonne in 2006.

Table for crude steel production during 1970-2007

(In million tones)

(Sourced from IISI)

World top 20 steel exporting countries in 2006

According to a recent release from International Iron and Steel Institute, China exported 51.7 million tones of steel in 2006 followed by Japan with 34.6 million tones. India positions the rank 17 with 6.9 million tones of export.

Top 20 exporters of steel in 2006 were

1
(Volume in million tonne)

(Sourced from IISI)

Top 15 net exporter in 2006 were

(Volume in million tonne)

(Sourced from IISI)

Bolivia to decide gas supply to JSPL plant by December

BNamericas reported that Bolivia's government could decide this December which gas deposit will be used to supply the El Mutún steel project in Santa Cruz department.

A spokesperson from Bolivia's mining and metallurgy ministry told BNamericas that "The issue of gas is included in the contract with Jindal but what isn't specified is whether the supply will come from deposits at Tarija in Santa Cruz or Sucre.

He said that although the gas could be extracted from fields in Santa Cruz because of their proximity, new deposits in Sucre department might be preferable due to the quantity needed for steelmaking processes at El Mutún.

He added that also, if gas is taken from the Tarija deposits, it affects the supply contract with Argentina and if it's taken from Santa Cruz, it affects the contract with Brazil, which would impact international markets.”

The spokesman said that he expects that the construction on the gas pipeline to begin in early 2009 and take nearly 18 months, with the test phase planned for 2011. He added that gas fired steel production is slated to begin in 2012 at El Mutún and will require 7.96Mm3/d of gas to produce direct reduced iron and generate electric power.

Japanese to start rail export talks for Q3 with USA

TEX reported that Japanese integrated steelmakers are expected to start their rail export negotiations shortly on shipments to the USA for small lots in the July to September quarter. It remains to be seen how the negotiations will turn out before the Japanese steelmakers' annual contract renewals of large scale rail exports to the USA.

Chances are the Japanese steelmakers will seek price increases of USD 400 per tonne or more in what they settle in the negotiations this time. Bids from the US railroad industry are beyond USD 1,000 per tonne FOB.

For their part, the Japanese steelmakers are setting their sights on a price level for the USA that will compare with the yen denominated price of JPY 135,000 per ton FOB under contract in rail exports to Brazil's Vale for January to March shipments in 2009.

But the Japanese steelmakers admit that it will take time to let the US railroad industry understand the prospects of a considerable advance in the world's rail prices. In the USA, local railroads purchase rails from mini mills under the existing long-term contracts. As a result, the prices of actual rail supplies reflect only a limited upswing to meet the ferrous scrap surcharge.

The Japanese steelmakers offered price increases of USD 300 to USD 400 per tonne in their deals of small-lot rail exports to the USA for shipments in the April to June quarter. The price increases were intended to meet substantial cost increases of the Japanese steelmakers' iron ore and coking coal imports besides a considerable upswing in prices of long steel products such as rails. At the final stage, though, the Japanese steelmakers opted out of April to June rail shipments to the USA because of pricing difficulties.

(Sourced from TEX Reports)

World top 20 steel importing countries in 2006

According to a recent release from International Iron and Steel Industry, NAFTA imported 42.6 million tones of steel in 2006 followed by United State with 42.2 million tones. India positions the rank 17 with 6.9 million tones of export. Top 20 importers of steel in 2006 were

(Volume in million tonne)

(Sourced from IISI)

Top 15 net importers in 2006 were

(Volume in million tonne)

(Sourced from IISI)

Malaysian tin price rises above USD 23,000 per tonne

Platts reported that the Malaysian domestic tin price continued to average higher on the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market this week, having crossed the USD 23,000 per tonne mark.

According to figures collected from the exchange, the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market price averaged USD 23,070 per tonne up USD 140 per tonne from USD 22,930 per tonne for the previous week.

A KLTM source said that the Malaysian domestic price was holding fairly steady around USD 23,000 per tonne for the week despite an overall downward trend. The price rose to USD 23,550 per tonne Tuesday, from USD 23,300 per tonne Monday. It, however, failed to hold onto the upward momentum and started to head south. The price slipped to USD 23,400 per tonne on Wednesday and fell further to USD 23,200 per tonne on Thursday. On Friday, it even slipped below USD 23,000 per tonne and settled on USD 22,900 per tonne. The KLTM source attributed the fall to weaker tin prices on the London Metal Exchange.

(Sourced from Platts)

Tenova to build walking beam furnaces and roll shops for ThyssenKrupp Alabama

Another very prestigious order has been recently awarded to Tenova, in consortium with German SMS Demag by ThyssenKrupp USA for the green field project at Alabama in USA.

The release said that Tenova LOI Italimpianti order is relevant to the engineering, supply, training and supervision to erection and commissioning of three new walking beam furnaces, 420 tonne per hour capacity each, for carbon steel and stainless steel production.

The release added that “Tenova Pomini will supply two complete Roll Shops: one for the HSM and the other for the CRM.”

Tenova order is part of the TKS Compass Project which will have an overall production of 5.5 million tonne per year and commissioning of the plant is scheduled for March 2010.

Global DRI production in the last 7 years

Table for global DRI production in the last seven year from 2000 to 2007

(In million tones)

(Sourced from IISI)

(In million tones)

(Sourced from IISI)

Wire rod prices in US to soar again

American wire rod producers are expected to raise their prices again for August shipments, under the circumstances of tight supply in both import and domestic markets, plus higher import prices.

The price rise is estimated at USD 44 per ton to USD 66 per ton higher than that in July and closer to international prices levels. Besides, rising shredded scrap prices will also support their increasing of prices.

Domestic mills are offering USD 1,191 per ton to USD 1,213 per ton for low carbon wire rod for July deliveries, and USD 1,246 per ton to USD 1,268 per ton for high carbon wire rod.

American wire rod imports dropped to 65,643 tons in May, to April’s 145,798 tons.

(Sourced from YIEH.com)

Daniel to supply dust catcher for POSCO BF No 4 at Gwangyang

Danieli Corus announced that it has signed a contract with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co Ltd for the engineering and part supply of a new cyclone dust catcher including an automatic dust removal system, for Blast Furnace No 4 located at POSCO Gwangyang Works in Korea.

The new cyclone will replace the old gravity dust catcher and will enable the recovery of 80% of Blast Furnace dust in dry form, ready to be recycled through the sinter plant.

This project is a breakthrough for Danieli Corus gas cleaning technology, being the first supply to Korean steelmaker POSCO.

Ferromanganese eases off all time high levels in US

Platts reported that ferroalloys in the US market eased off all time highs this week as steel mills are now covered for third quarter requirements and some stock overhangs have put silicomanganese under some downward pressure.

However, some traders expect a rebound later in the summer as steel mills look to secure fourth quarter supplies amid a backdrop of ongoing supply constraints for various alloys.

As per report, high carbon ferromanganese eased below USD 3,200 per short tons amid no business and no inquiries, with traders, producers and consumers in broad agreement that the spot market was at USD 3,150 to USD 3,250 per short tons FOB Pittsburgh, which is where the Platts assessment was made this week, down from a record USD 3,275 to USD 3,375 a week earlier.

A trader said that "Everyone bought into the South Africans being short, but it's stalled.” He added that “That doesn't mean it won't get up again, because I think it's difficult to get offers out of China."

A second trader said that demand and consumption in the US carbon steel industry remained strong, but said that stainless steel demand appeared patchy. He said that "The carbon plants are doing very, very well. The carbon guys are running flat out and making a lot of money. The stainless guys are not doing so well, and they are more exposed to things like appliances and now also automotive, and you know what's happening there, with building down and so on."

He said of the problems facing the US economy, if you focus on it, it has to have some impact. But we're a small pimple on the world economy and we're not seeing the impact at all. But if you look at the broader picture, it's not good.

Last month, a carbon steel mill purchasing agent told Platts that it had yet to see any impact on its business from the downturn in the US economy. He said that "You'd think that if we're in a recession we'd have seen it by now.”

But a third trader said that it had not experienced any downturn in demand from the stainless steel business. He said that "If I look at my shipments to the stainless sector they are taking material, and they are exporting their products. The dollar weakening is making US stainless exports competitive.

(Sourced from Platts)

Daniel to supply BF gas cleaning system to US Steel Kosice

Danieli Corus announced that it has signed a contract with US Steel Kosice, Slovakia for the engineering of a new gas cleaning system including a scrubber and demister for their Blast Furnace No 3 in Kosice.

The new gas cleaning system, built in parallel with the existing system, will replace the old gas cooler and venturi scrubbers, both suffering from accelerated chloride corrosion since the move to higher levels of pulverized coal injection.

Medium plate price keeps rising in Southern Europe

Southern European medium plate market prices remain strong amid good demand.

A combination of strong demand and limited availability is the main reason behind medium plate’s surge. Current price of medium plate is being offered at EUR 900 to EUR 930 per tonne.

Market participants forecasted that medium plate market price will continue to rise, followed by ongoing new building projects and high freight costs.

(Sourced from YIEH.com)

BlueScope faces profit cut on carbon costs

The Sydney Morning Herald citing Mr Andrew Gray analysis of Goldman Sachs JBWere Ltd's reported that BlueScope Steel Ltd's profit may be cut by a third because of costs dealing with carbon emissions.

The newspaper said that OneSteel Ltd, Alumina Ltd, Qantas Airways Ltd and Orica Ltd may also face earnings cuts if a government climate change report assumes a cost of AUD 20 per tonne on their emissions. It added that prices may be as high as AUD 40 a tonne.

Gray's research was drawn from the companies' participation in the not for profit Carbon Disclosure Project in which fund managers seek information about the impact of climate change.

The report said a draft of the Australian government's report on how to cut emissions, led by Professor Ross Garnaut, will be released and the final copy is due September 30th 2008.

Keep tab on domestic steel prices in important markets

A steel user, however big or small, is always concerned about steel buying as it is normally a big ticket item, but there is no bench mark available to steel buyers to compare their transaction prices, which in a big way decided their bottom line. Lastly, steel has been very volatile in last 6 months and has effected many users in a very severe way making it all the more important to track the prices and trends.

In order to provide such information 3 web sites have been launched
1. www.steelprices-india.com
2. www.steelprices-china.com
3. www.steelprices-middleeast.com
These portals provide domestic pricing information for benchmark steel products in each category at select location in India, China and Middle East on a regular basis 5 days a week. Benchmark products at select locations cover the entire basket of garden variety of steel products including input material for steel making and processing.

In addition, FOB levels for commonly exported steel products from two of the major exporting nation Ukraine & Russia and China are also available to give a sense of alternates.

The prices are displayed on daily, weekly and monthly basis. They also have search facilities to access old data from the archives. Graphical representation of trends and comparison of price movement 2 or more products is also available. A calculator to convert domestic prices into comparative CNF and vice versa is also provided, which takes into account all duties and expenses. In addition, you can monitor currency exchange rates, metal prices, BDI for the day as well as access their archives for past data. Other features include converters for weight, length etc, glossary and advanced search functions. The benchmark product price information is supplemented by global pricing news.

This would assist persons, including steel makers, traders, users and others, who are connected with industry in some way to asses the steel pricing trends and utilize in their day to day working to take considered decisions.

All these features are accessible only to registered user who is provided with a login id and password after payment is received. To know more about the service, please logon to the web site and click on “Features”, “Subscription” and if you like the service on “Registration”.

These portals are developed and run by none other that www.steelguru.com, which has become the largest English based steel portal in the world, with more than 1 million page hits per month in just 3 years of operations.

Alcan to set up packing facility in Czech Republic

Canada based Rio Tinto Alcan is planning set up a new packaging facility in Czech with total investment USD 27 million.

The new facility is served to supply regional food market and will focus on high quality rotogravure flexible packaging.

Alcan also expects that the investment to enhance its position in Central Europe market. The new facility will enter production around the fourth quarter in 2009.

Mr Pruden names new DM for North Carolina Area

Varco Pruden Buildings Inc, one of US's leading manufacturers of pre engineered metal buildings, has named Mr Robert A Rawson, the new District Manager for central and western North Carolina.

Mr Rawson as district manager will be responsible for the sales and marketing of VP Buildings' products in his territory. He has 18 years of experience in general construction. He comes to VP from D R Reynolds Company Inc.

Alstom to build a 1,200 MW power plant in Saudi Arabia

Alstom has signed a letter of intent with Saudi Arabian utility, Saudi Electricity Company for a EUR 1.9 billion turnkey contract to build a new 1,200 MW steam power plant in Saudi Arabia. This new plant will be constructed adjacent to the existing Shoaiba power station, 100 kilometer south of Jeddah. The contract will be finalized in the coming months.

Under this contract, Alstom will design, supply, install and commission the entire plant, including boilers, STF40 steam turbines, Gigatop 2 pole turbo generators, sea water flue gas desulphurization systems for removal of SO2 and the complete balance of plant and systems for the three units. Alstom’s consortium partner, Saudi Archirodon, will carry out all the associated civil works. The boilers are designed to burn both crude and heavy fuel oil and will use Alstom’s advanced low NOx tangential firing technology.

Delivery of major equipment is scheduled in 2010. Electric power demand in Saudi Arabia is growing at around 7% each year, requiring massive investment in the country’s power generation capacity.

Mr Philippe Joubert executive VP & president of power systems of Alstom said that "With this new Shoaiba contract, Saudi Electricity Company proves its ongoing trust in Alstom and recognition of Alstom’s competence and expertise as a reliable provider of integrated power solutions.”

The agreement, signed on June 28th 2008, marks the third stage of the Shoaiba project. The previous 11 units were supplied by an Alstom led consortium on a turnkey basis under two separate contracts won in November 1998 and January 2004 respectively. Following the project, the Shoaiba power plant will comprise 14 units of 400 MW each, bringing the total output to 5,600 MW.

NBAD seeks backers for funding Shadeed steel project

Meed.com reported that National Bank of Abu Dhabi is approaching regional and international banks to join the group of mandated lead arrangers on the USD 760 million Shadeed steel project in Oman.

India to sign IPI accord next month - Mr Deora

According to Mr Murli Deora oil minister of India, India expects to sign a deal 'by next month' on a pipeline that will transport gas across the Sub continent from Iran.

Mr Deora said that the USD 7.5 billion project to bring gas from Iranian fields to India and Pakistan had been discussed on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress industry event.

He said that “We discussed the issue and there should be an end to dialogue now.” He added that “The only issue is where to take the delivery, the delivery point adding the two options were on the India-Pakistan border or the Pakistan-Iran border. But these things are being sorted out at a very high level now and I hope by next month things will be okay.”

Talks on the 2,600km Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline began in 1994 but were stalled by tensions between India and Pakistan and disagreements over prices and transit fees.

JGC wins major Aramco contract

TradeArabia News Service reported that JGC Corporation and its subsidiary JGC Arabia have been awarded a large scale engineering, procurement, construction services contract by Saudi Aramco.

As per repot the contract is for large size utilities, storage and shipping facilities for the Central Processing Facilities at Manifa in Saudi Arabia.

The contract is a part of the Central Processing Facility of The Manifa Program, which calls for production of 900,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Manifa offshore oil field. Project completion is scheduled for the end of 2011.

The Manifa Program is a part of the major crude oil increment projects for Saudi Arabia. For this project, JGC plans to utilize JGC Gulf International, newly established in Saudi Arabia, to execute a part of the work in Saudi Arabia.

JGC Corporation is an international engineering and construction company based at Yokohama in Japan, having multiple operating centers and executing large scale projects world-wide.

Ghantoot and Galadari Trucks in USD 100 million deal

Staff reporter reported that Ghantoot Roads, one of the leading construction companies in Abu Dhabi, is investing USD 100 million to procuring trucks and earthmoving machinery from Galadari Trucks and Heavy Equipment dealers of Komatsu Machines.

As per report the relations between both companies established 14 years ago have been progressing well, as Ghantoot Roads has procured till now, heavy duty equipment worth AED 700 million from Galadari Trucks and Heavy Equipment.

Steel prices influencing construction sector in Middle East Asia

A steel user, however big or small, is always concerned about steel buying as it is normally a big ticket item, but there is no bench mark available to steel buyers to compare their transaction prices, which in a big way decided their bottom line. Lastly, steel has been very volatile in last 6 months and has effected many users in a very severe way making it all the more important to track the prices and trends.

www.steelprices-middleeast.com is a new portal that provides domestic pricing information for benchmark steel products in each category at select location in China on a regular basis 5 days a week. In addition, FOB levels for commonly exported steel products from two of the major exporting nation Ukraine & Russia and China are also available on daily basis to give a sense of alternates.

This would assist persons, including steel makers, traders, users and others, who are connected with industry in some way to asses the steel pricing trends and utilize in their day to day working to take considered decisions.

Benchmark products at select locations cover the entire basket of garden variety of steel products including input material for steel making and processing.

All these features are accessible only to registered user who is provided with a login id and password after payment is received. To know more about the service, please logon to the web site and click on “Features”, “Subscription” and if you like the service on “Registration”.

www.steelprices-middleeast.com is developed and run by none other that www.steelguru.com, which has become the largest English based steel portal in the world, with more than 1 million page hits per month in just 3 years of operations.

Iran 2007-08 inflation rate 21% - Central Bank

Tehran Times Economic Desk reported that Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran put the inflation rate for the fiscal year ended June 20th 2008 at 20.7%.

According to a CB report, the country’s liquidity amounted to some USD 174 billion by April 18th 2008.

The deputy governor of Iran’s Central Bank attributed 80% of the current inflation to the high liquidity. He said that “The inflation rate will reduce to 16% if liquidity is curbed.”

Chinese plate export prices further increase

MySteel reported that export prices for steel plate have kept at high levels and it is still in an upward trend.

As per report, offers for commercial plate by tier two steel makers are at USD 1140 per tonne to USD 1200 per tonne FOB as base and those by tier one producers are at about USD 1270 per tonne to USD 1300 per tonne FOB.

Some lower quotations for commodity grade were only at about USD 1140 per tonne to USD 1150 per tonne FOB despite prevailing level of USD 1160 per tonne to USD 1170 per tonne FOB.

SBQ plates by tier two steel mills are between USD 1270 per tonne to USD 1300 per tonne FOB as base while those by tier one producers are at USD 1330 per tonne to USD 1360 per tonne FOB for August or early September shipment.

(Sourced from www.steelprices.com)

Chinese steel export on increasing path

China Mining reported that China's export of steel products kept increasing in June and might set a new record in 2008 after 3 consecutive rebounds on MoM basis.

According to Mr Liu Yuan analyst of Mysteel Research Center “Domestic steel price witnessed a general decline in June while price on foreign market was still firm. The price difference kept rising and ocean freight went down significantly. As a result China's steel export volume is expected to keep growing in the rest of the year.”

According to the report, the export volume is estimated to exceed 6 million tonnes in June and is likely to decline slightly in July and August due to the weak demand from the oversea market especially Europewhere summer vacation is taking place.

China cancels meeting with US in retaliation for duties

AMM citing unknown sources reported that the Chinese government has canceled a meeting with senior US officials which is scheduled for mid July due to anger over an unfavorable ruling in a recent steel trade case.

Baosteel orders for thin slab caster

It is reported that Baosteel Co Ltd and Italy's Danieli Group recently signed the equipment supply contract for main operation line of Meishan Thin Slab Continuous Casting and Rolling Project of Baosteel Company Limited in Baoshan Hotel.

Meishan BSP is one of the most important projects in the eleventh Five Year Planning of Baosteel Company Limited which will adopt the technology of continuous casting and rolling of thin slab for the first time, and mainly produce fine grain high strength steel, hot rolled thin products, medium and low grade silicon steel.

The product mix includes high strength duplex steel, high strength cold forming steel, medium and low grade non grain oriented silicon steel, cold rolled substrates, weather-proof steel and high strength structural steel etc with max width of 1630 mm, thickness ranging from 1.0 mm to 6.35 mm and nominal production capacity of 2.45 million tonnes per year.

The construction period of the principal project will be 30 months with piling starting by the end of May next year and production starting by the end of 2011.

Chinese billet export scenario

MySteel reported that billet price in both domestic and export market have improved this week. Export transactions are quite good and tonnages for July shipments are predicted to see sharp increase.

On Tangshan market, price for Q235 150mm billet has rebounded to CNY 5380 per tonne and 20MnSi grade material is being quoted at CNY 5530 per tonne. Prices are believed to be in a dull period and there is expected to be another round of increase later.

Export offers for Q235 150mm x 150mm billet are prevailing at USD 1120 per tonne to USD 1130 per tonne FOB and some steel mills have been fully booked for their allocation for end July or August shipment. Normally, there is an extra of USD 10 per tonne for 120mm x 120mm and another USD 10 per tonne to USD 15 per tonne for 20MnSi quality.

(Sourced from www.steelprices.com)

SBQ market growth in China slows down

According to Mr Zhu Xi'an analyst with Mysteel, China's shipbuilding steel market has seen slowed growth in price and volume from the second quarter. In the third quarter, traditionally weak for shipbuilding steel demand, the market is to face more uncertainties.

Uncertainties in the third quarter

1. The third quarter is considered a traditionally weak season for demand of shipbuilding steel just next to Q1 as high temperature, busy farm work and protruding power shortfall will affect production in the ship yards. The power gap for this summer is estimated to reach 80 million KW especially for Guangdong.

Yet, Olympic Games is expected not to impact too much since the major shipbuilding base near Bohai Rim is not included in the major environmentally protected provinces.

2. The primary concern comes from the export market, due mainly to the crisis in Vietnam. Vietnam and South Korea are two largest importers of China's plate and wide and medium thick strip.

In face of the crisis, Vietnam's government has canceled and suspended many public projects and the financial turbulence is likely to spread to other industries like machinery and shipbuilding.

3. Besides, as the steel exports keep rebounding in recent months, the export tax rate may be hiked, especially for plate since plate export has occupied a high ratio of 17% in January to May.

Motivation for shipbuilding steel production yet remains strong while the output growth is expected to slow down

As a specialty product among the plates, shipbuilding steel still enjoys bigger profits and despite possible adjustment of the steel market in third quarter, shipbuilding steel prices will see narrower room for price drop.

(Sourced form MySteel.net)

Chinese CR export prices on downward trend

MySteel reported that export price for cold rolled coil has slipped down this week since domestic market prices are still in downward correction.

On Shanghai market, 1.0mm CR sheet by Anshan steel is being quoted at CNY 7300 per tonne, 1.2mm to 2.0mm material at USD 7220 per tonne to USD 7250 per tonne down by CNY 30 per tonne to CNY 50 per tonne from early this week. 1.0 CR coil by Maanshan steel goes at CNY 7150 per tonne down by CNY 20 per tonne from last Friday.

Export price for 1.0mm CRC is between USD 1130 per tonne to USD 1140 per tonne FOB and most cargo was concluded at USD 1120 per tonne FOB.

(Sourced from www.steelprices.com)

Bayi Steel BF No 1 saving energy and reduces emission

It is reported that 2,500 CBM No 1 BF is the first big sized BF in Xinjiang, which was commissioned in February. At present, daily output in the BF is as high as 5,000 tonnes which is equal to total output of five small sized BF in Bayi Steel before.

The more important is that No 1 BF utilizes environmental technology, BF control system and fuel system and it has characteristics of saving energy, reducing pollution and cost.

Mr Zheng Yongjun special engineer in Bayi Steel said that No 1 BF is able to save around 50,000 tonnes coke per year which is worth about CNY 70 million.

Mr Ren Guoqing an engineer in Bayi Steel said that the design capacity of power generation establishment in the BF is 18,000 KW per hour and the real capacity could reach 10,000 KW to 12,000 KW.

According to current market price, the profit could be around CNY 100,000 per day. Consequently, economic profit in the whole year would be as high as CNY 30 million.

Scrap imports through Zhangjiagang up in H1 2008

According to statistics, the scrap imports through Zhangjiagang port have totaled 90 batches of 181,100 tonnes in the H1 2008 with import values of USD 116.33 million up by 63.64% YoY, 170.7% YoY and 16.33% YoY respectively from the 55 batch, 66,900 tonnes and USD 100 million of the same period of last year.

The statistics show that, domestic scrap demand has soared up since the end of last year as a result of the soaring global iron ore prices, leading the scrap imports jump in Zhangjiagang port.

Anben Group plans to achieve substantial progress

China Business News reported that Anben Group Anben Group is planning to achieve further substantial regrouping although 3 years passed since its parental enterprises announced to merge together.

According to the primary precept of regrouping, Anben Group would firstly found a united framework on Joint purchase, Joint sales, unify programming and unify statements and reports. The first step was expected to achieve by the end of 2005. After that, Angang and Bengang would step in regrouping assets within a year. But the primary precept seems to be too rosy.

Mr Fu Jihui directorate secretary said "Currently, Angang and Bengang haven't start up joint purchase and joint sales. Consequently, the second step of asset regrouping is still in the air. Besides, senior managers of Anben Group are still in selection.”

Mr Zhang Xiaogang GM of Angang said the regrouping is hopefully to get progress.

Mr Yu Tianchen board chairman of Bengang also expresses that the new regrouping plan will come out after China's two sessions. He believes that the regrouping will surely achieve substantial progress this year.

Chinese domestic prices hold the key for global levels

A steel user, however big or small, is always concerned about steel buying as it is normally a big ticket item, but there is no bench mark available to steel buyers to compare their transaction prices, which in a big way decided their bottom line. Lastly, steel has been very volatile in last 6 months and has effected many users in a very severe way making it all the more important to track the prices and trends.

www.steelprices-china.com is a new portal that provides domestic pricing information for benchmark steel products in each category at select location in China on a regular basis 5 days a week. In addition, FOB levels for commonly exported steel products from two of the major exporting nation Ukraine & Russia and China are also available on daily basis to give a sense of alternates.

This would assist persons, including steel makers, traders, users and others, who are connected with industry in some way to asses the steel pricing trends and utilize in their day to day working to take considered decisions.

Benchmark products at select locations cover the entire basket of garden variety of steel products including input material for steel making and processing.

All these features are accessible only to registered user who is provided with a login id and password after payment is received. To know more about the service, please logon to the web site and click on “Features”, “Subscription” and if you like the service on “Registration”.

www.steelprices-china.com is developed and run by none other that www.steelguru.com, which has become the largest English based steel portal in the world, with more than 1 million page hits per month in just 3 years of operations.

Azovstal granted certificate of compliance

It is reported that Azovstal Steel Plant was granted a certificate of compliance with the Quality Management Standard of the Russian Federation GOST R ISO 9001 to 2001. The Certificate is applied to arctic low alloy steel rolled plates for electric welded pipes. Pipe plants are the main consumers of such products.

As per report, one of the pre conditions for the metal companies wishing to bid for delivery of rolled products for pipe industry is an independent audit by an autonomous non-commercial organization National Institute of Standardization, Expert Examination and Certification of Transport.

NISEST experts audited Azovstal under the voluntary certification system TRANSSERT. The audit covered 14 divisions of the plant engaged in production of finished products. The auditors verified a number of production processes.

The audit results prove that Azovstal Steel Plant can manufacture the products of the quality level as required by the customer. In the near future the plant plans to take the audit for compliance with the international quality management standard OHSAS.

Ukraine increase railway cargo transportation tariff

According to the order of the Transport and Communications Ministry of Ukraine, tariffs for railway cargo transportation rose by 3% since July. A relevant draft order has been submitted to consideration of the Finance Ministry and the Economics Ministry.

The ministry also confirms its intention to increase stage by stage a price for internal route transportation in trains by five percent in all types of railroad cars since August 1st and October 1st

Vyborg Shipyard to deliver first drilling rig for Shtokman field

Interfax cited Mr Valery Levchenko general director of OJSC Vyborg Shipyard as saying that OJSC Vyborg Shipyard plans to deliver its first floating drilling rig for the development of the Shtokman field in October 2010. He said that "This rig will be delivered in October 2010."

Mr Levchenko said the laying of the first rig at Vyborg Shipyard took place on Friday. He added that the laying of second rig of this type would take place in three months, which will be released for commercial use in March 2011.

According to the report, the drilling rigs are being built on the order of OOO Gazflot. In January of this year, the company signed a contract with South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries for the supply of topside facilities for drilling rigs.

The MOSS CS-50 platform was selected as the base model for the project as it is designed for operations in northern seas.

Agreement on Caspian gas pipeline will soon come into force - Mr Medvedev

Interfax cited Mr Dmitry Medvedev president of Russia as saying that an agreement on the construction of the Caspian gas pipeline will come into force shortly.

He said after talks with Mr Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow president of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat that "The intergovernmental agreement on the Caspian gas pipeline will come into force shortly when all countries complete internal procedures."

Mr Medvedev also said work would continue on the four-sided agreement on rebuilding the existing gas pipelines. He said that the broadest prospects are opening up now for new joint projects in Turkmenistan involving Russian companies.

He added that several Russian majors, such as Gazprom, Itera, Kamaz, Stroitransgaz and TMK have taken deep root on the Turkmen market.

Ukrtransgaz increases gas transit volumes to Europe

According to the united supervision department, Ukrtransgaz increased the transit of natural gas through Ukraine to Europe by 23% YoY to 65.3 billion cubic meters in January to June 2008.

The gas transit growth was caused by the growth in export supplies to European countries by Gazprom to ensure an increasing consumption of natural gas by European states, the company's press service told.

According to the company, the record transit volumes once again confirmed that Ukrtransgaz is a reliable partner for Gazprom for the transportation of natural gas to European countries, while the Ukrainian route for gas transportation has substantial reserves.

Mr Abramovich to buys Russian cement industry assets

RIA Novosti reported that Mr Roman Abramovich Russian billionaire has bought a production license for a large cement rock deposit in the Urals and plans to build a USD 500 million plant.

Vedomosti said Millhouse Capital, which runs the businessman's assets, will build a plant in the Perm Territory to produce 2 million tonnes of cement annually by 2011. The paper said Mr Yury Utkin Deputy Head of the Perm Territory administration confirmed the plans, but did not give further details. Millhouse spokesman John Mann has refused to comment.

Experts quoted by the paper said the move was a logical one, as cement consumption in the Urals is set to exceed target levels this year. Mr Mikhail Bogush An Inteco Group executive said cement could be conveniently shipped to northwestern regions and Tatarstan with booming construction industries.

The paper said others are more skeptical about the deal, saying the existing cement producing plants have met the Perm Territory's demand, and a new one is being built in the area.

Ukraine gas prices to grow gradually - Ms Tymoshenko

Interfax-Ukraine cited Ms Yulia Tymoshenko PM of Ukrainian as saying that Ukraine will see a gradual rise in gas prices.

She said at a press conference in Mykolaiv when she was asked whether a possible rise in gas prices for European consumers to USD 500 would impact the gas price for Ukraine "The growth in gas prices for Ukraine will be gradual We will take a logical approach to a gradual rise in gas prices to the European level. However it won't be a shock."

Ms Tymoshenko said the price for natural gas supplied to Ukraine will gradually grow to European levels over three or four years.

Gazprom delegation visits Azerbaijan

It is reported that Mr Alexey Miller Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee took part in the extended meeting with Mr Ilkham Aliev President of Azerbaijan in Baku as part of the working visit of Mr Dmitry Medvedev president of Russian Federation.

As per report, the meeting emphasized that cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan in the oil and gas sector has a long history while a common border and the existing infrastructure create a favorable environment for further interaction in the energy sector.

Russia and Azerbaijan agreed upon the arrangement of natural gas swap transactions and the initiation of commercial talks on Azerbaijani gas purchase by Gazprom on a long term contract basis.

Venezuela and Cuba to build a new stainless steel plant

Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias reported that Venezuela and Cuba signed an agreement to create a joint steelmaking company called Aceros del Alba CA, which will make stainless steel products in Venezuela.

The paper said that company’s, whose USD 1.5 billion investment will come from Venezuela, plans to produce 500,000 tonnes of stainless steel and the new steelmaker will be located in Venezuela's eastern state of Monagas.

It said that 51% will be owned by Venezuela and 49% owned by the Cuban group, Acinox Steel Industrial Group.

The report added that a ferronickel plant will be built in Cuba to provide the raw material for the steel plant. The plant will be 51% owned by Cuba and 49% owned by Venezuela.

Mr Rodolfo Sanz minister of basic industries and mining of Venezuela said that the steelmaking plant should begin construction this year and be operating in three years.

Kermas to take over South Africa Mogale Alloys

TEX reported Kermas has reached an agreement with Mogale Alloys, which is one of producers of ferrochrome in South Africa, to acquire 56.2% of the shares of Mogale and will actually control this South African producer of ferrochrome.

Kermas has intended to place the existing producer of ferrochrome under their control and aimed to expand the capacity to produce ferrochrome in South Africa.

In view of a crisis on supply of electric power emerged in South Africa, Kermas has judged that it is rather advantageous to take over the existing plant for production of ferroalloys than to invest in construction of new electric furnace.

(Sourced from TEX Report Ltd)

Poseidon intercepts nickel sulphide at Denny Bore

Poseidon Nickel Limited announced that drilling has intersected further high grade nickel sulphide ore at Denny Bore on its Windarra Nickel Project. The intersection occurred 210 meter up plunge of the previously reported intersections and is an exciting step out from the previous intersections at Denny Bore.

Diamond drill hole PND0038 returned 1.15m @ 2.24% of disseminated nickel sulphide from 588.6m and 1.18m @ 3.33% of nickel sulphide from 595.8m, which includes a high grade stringer/massive sulphide zone of 0.32m @ 7.36% nickel.

WED9 is the next adjacent drill hole to PND0038, and was historically drilled 280m further south by Windarra's former owner WMC. WED9 returned 0.85m @ 0.97% Ni and has led to the reinterpretation of the mineralised trend direction. PND0038 intersected the mineralized zone up dip and to the south of the previously reported drill intercepts and modeling suggests that the mineralization is north plunging. A Down Hole Electromagnetic survey was completed on PND0038 and reported a local in-hole anomaly associated with the sulphide intersected in the hole, as well as an off-hole anomaly which is centred above and to the south of the hole. The off hole DHEM anomaly supports the interpretation depicted on the long section.

Poseidon said that this is an exciting result for Poseidon as it significantly increases the mineralization potential at Denny Bore which is open in all directions. Further drilling is underway in order to test for mineralisation around and then south of PND0038.

Amcor and BHP Billiton talks on Pujada Nickel fail

It is reported that the negotiations between mining giant BHP Billiton and its Filipino partner Asiaticus Management Corporation which was brokered by Environment Secretary Lito Atienza in Singapore last week, were a failure.

Mr Jimmy Wilson president of BHP Billiton's Stainless Steel Material failed to attend the meeting and sent his representative instead to meet with Amcor's top officials.

Mr Vicente Jayme president of Amcor said that Mr Wilson's non attendance on the brokered meeting just shows how arrogant the Australian mining officials are. He said Wilson earlier promised to attend the Singapore meeting.

Mr Jayme said that the representative sent by Mr Wilson could not even make a decision regarding their demand for the immediate operation of the Pujada Nickel Mining project in Cabuaya and Macambol in the City of Mati

He said that "It's so sad that BHP is still arrogant. Their president did not attend as he promised and merely sent a representative who merely talked without putting anything on the negotiating table.”

The meeting was held around on June 24th 2008 at Singapore's Swisshotel Standford Hotel.

(Sourced from www.sunstar.com)

China may increase coke export tax - Mr Huang

Interfax China quoted a senior official with the China Coke Industry Association reported that China's growing coke exports may trigger an export tax hike in the future.

Mr Huang Jingan chairman of the CCIA said China increased the export tax on coke from 15% to 25% in January 2008 and although January and February exports slowed, exports in May rebounded, which means a further export tax hike is possible.

China exported 1.66 million tonnes of coke in May up by 23.88% from the previous month and surging by 127.40% from February. China's coke exports were 960,000 tonnes in January and 760,000 tonnes in February.

Iron ore spot prices in China may stabilize on increased supply

According to report released by Market Operation Department of Chinese Ministry of Commerce, domestic spot ore price has down by 1.96% from May to CNY 1560 per tonne in June.

The report also notes that iron ore supply has increased notably in the month but ore consumption weakened.

The Customs data shows that China's imported iron ore up by 19.6% YoY to 192 million tonnes in the first five months. However, the ore price rally has run out of steam due to softening market demand. Domestic crude steel output advances 9.4% to 260 million tonnes through May, while the growth rate dips 10.6 percentage points from same time of last year. Moreover, some mills in North China are to halt production in near future due to Olympic Games. Therefore, China's steel capacity utilization would be restrained in the coming months.

The Department also pointed out that domestic iron ore price might go up further in the short term. However, the price run up would be short lived given current sufficient supply. And the spot ore price is expected to hold steady in days to come.

Mr Talbot buys 20% stake in PBS Coal in US

It is reported that Mr Ken Talbot founder and former CEO of Macarthur Coal has agreed to pay AUD 190 million for about a 20% stake in US miner PBS Coals.

As per report the deal is comes on the heels of Talbot's sale of a 10% stake in Macarthur Coal to Korean steelmaker POSCO.

The Pennsylvania based company produced about 2 million tonnes of coal in 2007, primarily used in the production of steel.

Indonesia renegotiating coal contracts

Economic Times reported that Indonesia’s proposed move to renegotiate coal contracts is likely to impact the future plans of Indian power players like Reliance Power and TATA Power which source coal from the South East Asian country. A renegotiation could lead to higher royalty payments.

Mr Purnomo Yusgiantoro energy minister of Indonesia’s said his government is in favour of a change in existing mining contracts after prices of various commodities, including coal and iron ore almost doubled in the past year.

According to the report, the move is aimed at boosting revenue from mines as user industries in China and India rush to buy coal for their projects.

Reliance Power, through its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Coal Resources, recently acquired 100% economic interest in three coal concessions in Indonesia for about USD 1 billion to tie up coal availability for its 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam power project and 1,200 MW Shahapur coal project.

Renova to acquire biggest untapped zinc deposit in Russia

Bloomberg reported Billionaire Mr Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group and Russia's state controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport will buy the country's biggest untapped zinc and lead deposits.

Renova said in a statement, without valuing the deal, said that the companies will buy the Ozernoye and Kholodninskoye deposits in Russia's Far East republic of Buryatia from the metals venture of Moscow-based investment bank IFK Metropol.

The statement said the two deposits contain 45% of Russia's lead and zinc deposits, or about 300 million tonnes of metal ore. ZAO Rusinvestpartner, Renova's venture with the arms trader will carry out the acquisition as part of a larger power and infrastructure project in the Far East.

Mr Vladimir Zhukov an analyst at Lehman Brothers Holding Inc in Moscow said “The deposits are likely to be expensive to develop as there's virtually no infrastructure around them. I see the buyers as financial investors who will need a mining company as a partner.''

Mr Zhukov said Urals Metals and Mining Co, controlled by billionaire Mr Iskander Makhmudov Russian Copper Co and OAO Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant have the necessary experience, adding a lack of skilled Russian workers is a serious stumbling block.''

Chinese coal miner shares plunge on report of tax rise

Bloomberg reported that shares of Chinese coal companies plunged in Shanghai and Shenzhen trading after a report said the government may increase taxes on production of the fuel this weekend.

1. Pingdingshan Tianan shares fell by the 10 % daily limit to CNY 32.84 following the newspaper report.

2. Yanzhou Coal Mining Co, a unit of China's fourth biggest producer of the fuel dropped by 9.3% to CNY 18.5

3. Shenhua Energy Co the nation's largest coal producer fell by 8.9% to CNY 31.69.

Other coal miners, whose shares slipped include
1. Shanxi Guoyang New Energy Co
2. Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity Power Co
3. Hebei Jinniu Energy Resources Co
4. Shanxi Luan Environmental Energy Development Co
5. Kailuan Clean Coal Co

Taurian Resources mining manganese ore in Ivory Coast

Bloomberg reported that Indian mining company Taurian Resourcesis is exploring for manganese ore in Ivory Coast and is considering building a ferromanganese plant.

Mr Ansu Bajla director of projects for Africa in an interview in the commercial capital Abidjan said that they began shipping manganese ore earlier this year on a pilot project basis from the eastern Bondoukou region, while feasibility studies are being conducted for two other sites.

Mr Bajla said that they expect to produce at least 1 million tonnes of manganese a year once the mines are fully developed.

Japanese thermal coal import in 5 months up by 10.4% YoY

According to the latest trade data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance, Japan imported 44.1 million tones of steam coal in January to May 2008 period up by 10.4% YoY as compared to same period of last year.

The data showed that shipments from China declined during the period up by 11.3% YoY to 3.8 million tones but strong gains were also reported from Indonesia up by 39.1% to 7.5 million tones and Australia up by 10.8% to 29.3 million tones.

Mexican miners stage 1 hour strike to support Mr Gomez

Reuters reported that Mexico's mining union workers staged a one hour walkout early Friday morning and planned to stop work for the first hour of later shifts, but said there were no set plans for future strikes. The walkouts are a symbolic show of support for the union's embattled leader, Napoleon Gomez, whose re election was not recognized by the government

Mr Carlos Pavon a union official told Reuters that "The first stoppage was at 7 this morning and the second will be at 3 in the afternoon and the third will be at 11 at night.” Mr Pavon said that the majority of the thousands strong union were participating in the temporary stoppages and added that they would not be extended into next week.

Mr Gomez has led a yearlong strike at the country's largest copper mine, the massive Cananea pit owned by Grupo Mexico though he has been living in Canada to avoid arrest on corruption charges, which he denies.

This the second work stoppage the union has staged this year in support of Gomez. In May, workers laid down their tools for 24 hours, hitting production at some steel companies.

The country's mining industry group said it did not yet know which mines had been affected by the stoppage. Mexico's labor ministry called Friday's stoppages illegal and said the workers could be docked pay for the time missed.

SA mine deaths decline by 22% - Reuters

Reuters citing chief inspector of mines Thabo Gazi reported that South African mine deaths fell 22% in H1 of 2008.

According to the report South Africa, fatalities fell to 85 from 109 in the first half of last year. It added that about a quarter of the deaths in the first half of 2008 occurred at Gold Fields Ltd operations.

Reuters said that laws allowing larger fines to be imposed for safety violations may be implemented by the year end.

Ukraine coal extraction in H1 2008 up by 3.7% YoY

Ukrainian Journal reported that Ukrainian coal extraction in January through June tentatively up by 3.7% YoY or 1.417 million tonnes to 39.458 million tonnes.

Geograce Resources signs exploration deal with Vale

INQUIRER reported that Geograce Resources Philippines Inc has signed an exploration and option agreement with Vale Exploration Philippines Inc a subsidiary of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, which it