L&T to set up cast wheel plant for Indian Railways

It is reported that Larsen & Toubro Limited has bagged an INR 10,476 million order from Indian Railways for setting up a cast steel wheel manufacturing plant in Saran district of Bihar. The plant when commissioned will have the capacity to manufacture 100,000 cast steel railroad wheels per annum.

The scope of work for this turnkey project involves engineering, procurement and construction of the complete plant including civil works, electrical installation, design, supply erection and commissioning of machinery and plant.

This is the first instance of an Indian company executing a project of such complexity without any foreign collaboration. The only other such plant was set up in Bangalore by the Indian Railways in early 80s with American collaboration. The project is to be completed within a tight schedule of 2 years.

A year ago, L&T, as a part of its new initiatives, launched a dedicated railway business unit with the intention to target the emerging opportunities in rail sector such as dedicated freight corridor, railway station modernization, merry go round systems for power plants, ports, steel plants, rail based urban mass transportation systems like monorails, metros and light rail transport systems.

Design & project engineering capability have been developed in L&T’s railway business unit to address various rail sector projects in an integrated and comprehensive manner and to provide one stop shop for all types of railway related requirements. L&T is also looking at participating in various upcoming PPP projects in rail sector like rolling stock manufacturing, station redevelopment, urban mass transit systems, etc.

The new plant will help Indian Railways meet the huge shortage of wheels for rolling stocks due to rapid growth in the passenger and freight traffic and will reduce dependence on imports. With the dedicated freight corridor project expected to take off soon, the demand for wheels is also expected to go up considerably.

POSCO may buy iron ore to feed steel plant in India - Report

Bloomberg reported that POSCO may be forced to buy iron ore to feed its USD 12 billion steel plant in India should the government fail to award it a license to mine ore.

Mr SK Mahapatra GM at POSCO India said that "There is a possibility of iron ore requirement coming ahead of our captive mining operations. In this situation, the state government has agreed to make the iron ore required available.''

It may be noted that land disputes and delays in allocating mining licenses have stopped POSCO from proceeding with potentially the biggest overseas investment in India. It is yet to begin building the 12 million tonnes steel plant in Orissa state. Work was scheduled to start in April 2007.

Initially, POSCO will build a 4 million tonnes steel plant and set up a 400 MW power plant.

Corus Process to modernize RINL bloom caster

Corus Process Engineering has been awarded a multi million pound contract from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited’s Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to modify and enhance the company’s number 2, four strand bloom caster at its plant.

As a turnkey contract, Corus Process Engineering’s responsibilities include the complete design, equipment supply, installation and commissioning of the modified bloom caster.

Corus Process Engineering will lead the project, with its consortium partner TATA Projects, handling some of the design, indigenous equipment sourcing and installation work.

Mr Brian Stalker international sales manager for Corus Process Engineering said that "The contract suits Corus Process Engineering’s skill sets entirely and includes supply of new moulds and top zones, mould oscillators and mould table, Tundish car frames, modified strand guide segments and enhanced secondary cooling spray systems. Corus Process Engineering is also responsible for replacing the process control and an automation system associated with the caster, as well as electrical works, including new electric motors and cabling."

The number 2 bloom caster is one of six identical casters at RINL’s steel plant, which all share a common casting floor.

Directory of Autoparts Makers in India

'Directory of Autoparts Makers in India' is one of the top sources of information available on auto part makers in India. It is one of the most comprehensive and accurate directory of auto part makers in India.

Published in May 2008, 'Directory of Autoparts Makers in India' has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to Indian auto part makers. This report will be extremely useful to businesses that deal specifically with companies in auto part makers segment.

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This report will enable you to profile auto part makers in India, build new business prospects, generate new customers, discover who your competitors are and make vital contacts. You would save the time, money and effort of doing your own research. This directory has been especially compiled to assist with market research, strategic planning, as well as contacting prospective clients or suppliers.

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This report covers name and product details of 431 of Indian auto part makers in alphabetical as well as location wise order.

Look at the information you'll get in the 'Directory of Autoparts Makers in India'

• Company name -431 entries
• Address-431 entries
• Phone number-431 entries
• Fax number -418 entries
• Email -403 entries

Report Summary:
1. Published: May 2008
2. Format PDF File (Delivery by Email on receipt of payment)
3. Total no of pages – 241

Price: USD 625 or equivalent in INR
(Additional Charges would be levied for delivery of file on a CD or in printed form)

You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com

Suzlon to buy Honiton Energy Holdings for USD 500 million

BS reported that Suzlon Energy is planning to buy Chinese wind energy company Honiton Energy Holdings. The acquisition will be concluded through Colossus Holdings, a Singapore based holding company of Suzlon and Bahrain based private equity company Arcapita Bank for over USD 500 million.

Suzlon Energy will own 26% of Honiton Energy and the rest will be funded by Arcapita. The partners will spend another USD 2 billion by 2012 to develop a 1,650 MW portfolio of wind farms in the Inner Mongolia region of China.

Acquisitions have been major drivers of growth for the Pune based Suzlon. In 2007, Suzlon outbid French energy major Areva to acquire 33.6% stake in German turbine maker REpower for USD 698 million. Recently, it further acquired Areva's stake in REpower.

Suzlon, now operating in over 20 countries with global headquarters in Amsterdam, drew international attention with the acquisition of Belgian gearbox manufacturer Hansen Transmission for USD 565 million in March 2006.

Captain TMT ropes in Sourav as brand ambassador

It is reported that Captain TMT, the steel division of the West Bengal based BMA group producing wire rods and bars, is on an aggressive promotional campaign with cricketer Mr Sourav Ganguly as its brand ambassador.

Mr Avinash Agarwalla director of BMA group said that “It has its manufacturing units at Kayaneswari with an installed capacity of over 250,000 tonnes per annum and at Purulia with a capacity of over 50,000 tonnes per annum in West Bengal. We want to double the capacity by 300,000 tonnes but we have not yet decided on the location of the new plant. We need 150 to 200 acres for the unit. We are planning to invest INR 300 crore on it."

He said the details would have to work out and in a few months’ time financial closure would be achieved for the new plant.

He added that "Captain TMT has a strong presence in Jharkhand, Gujarat, Haryana, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. We have ambitious plans to extend our reach to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala in a few months’ time. We are appointing dealers. Sourav Ganguly will promote our products."

He further added that, in Andhra Pradesh, it had opened a stockyard a few months ago and Vizag would be the nodal point for reaching out to different parts of the state.

Mr Baalu reviews performance of Paradip Port

Paradip Port has handled a total traffic of 42.44 million tonnes of cargo in 2007-08 fiscal as against 38.51 million tonnes in 2006-07 fiscal, registering a growth of 10% YoY. The traffic in the first quarter in 2008-09 has registered a growth of 17.7% YoY.

Mr Thiru TR Baalu union minister of shipping, road transport & highways commended the port authorities for completing 6 projects under the National Maritime Development Program and asked them to accelerate efforts for completing the 12 projects in time which are currently under implementation. The completed 6 projects include extension of iron ore berth to handle vessels of 75,000 DWT, creation of additional facilities for Oil Jetty, construction of integrated dry dock, up gradation of road inside wharf area, illumination of wharf area and replacement of wharf cranes.

He was happy to note that INR 253 crore project of dredging work for deepening of the channel has commenced last month. A new harbor mobile crane of 140 tonne capacity installed recently has enabled the port to handle the bulk cargo faster. He was informed that with the provision of dry dock facilities at the port, vessels can now be repaired in-house and need not be sent to Kolkata, thus saving valuable time and resources.

Mr Baalu directed the port authorities to expedite the work on the 2 PPP projects, both relating to the development of deep draught berths, one for handling iron ore and other for handling of coal on BOT basis at an estimated cost of INR 520.65 and INR 415.90 crore respectively.

He desired that immediate measures should be taken to improve the ship berth day output at Paradip Port and for this, he directed to form a team of officials from ministry along with the MD of Indian Ports Association, who would visit the port and suggest an action plan after interacting with all the shareholders.

Foundation stone laid for coal research centre at Rajarhat

Mr Jairam Ramesh union minister of state for power has laid the foundation stone for research and development centre at Rajarhat in West Bengal on July 7th 2008.

The R&D work will be carried out by Damodar Valley Corporation in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The centre will spread over four acres of land and will entail an investment of INR 120 crore.

The research centre, which will work on special areas such as clean coal and coal bed methane technology, is expected to provide the much needed skilled manpower to the power sector that is supposed to add 20,000 MW generation capacity every year for the remaining four years of the 11th Five Year Plan.

Work on the centre is expected to be completed within 4 to 5 years.

7 firms express interest in Kochi port capital dredging

Cochin Port Trust has till now received response from 7 firms for the request for proposals invited for the capital dredging work together with maintenance dredging in the channel prior to the commissioning of the ICTT project.

The port also extended the last date for submitting the tender, following the request from companies in the pre-bid meeting held on June 30th 2008. The last date for submitting the tender earlier was July 15th 2008, which has now been extended to July 29th 2008.

It is learnt that the tender for capital dredging was cancelled last time by the port as the price quoted by the international company was higher than estimated costs.

The INR 485 crore dredging work involves achieving a draught of 14.5 meters in the channel along with a maintenance dredging for a period up to December 31st 2010.

The port is also awaiting formal clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on the proposal to avail a grant in aid for the capital dredging work. The Public Investment Board had already cleared the proposal.

RIL and GAIL apply for gas retail license

BS reported that Reliance Industries has sought licenses to sell natural gas to households and vehicles across 60 cities in India. Setting up the gas infrastructure in these cities would involve an investment of around INR 48,000 crore over the next 4 to 5 years.

Reliance Gas has submitted EoIs for 54 cities while GAIL Gas has shown interest in 8 cities. Except for two cities, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, there are no overlapping bids by the two companies.

Mr BS Negi member of Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board said that "Contracts for laying the pipeline network in the identified cities is likely to be awarded by December 2008."

Mr Negi said that "There is no need for us to identify any city on our own. In the last 15 years 22 cities have been covered. So 60 new cities is good enough for now."

According to the regulations for city gas distribution approved by the regulatory board in March 2008, licenses for all the 60 cities will now be put up for bidding. The company that wins the bid will get the right to lay pipeline networks and retail gas to households and vehicles in that city.

Oil boom to fuel Varun Shipping's revenues

BL reported that Varun Shipping Company is planning to earn at least a third of its revenue from chartering anchor handling and tug service vessels, helped by high crude oil prices that are inducing a demand for oil exploration. It expects the boost as it plans to invest USD 300 million to buy vessels for offshore marine services and crude oil transportation.

Varun Shipping reported INR 672.6 crore of revenue from operations in 2006-07, of which it earned around 55% from LPG transportation and 25% from crude oil and petro products transportation. The remaining 20% of the revenue came from offshore marine services.

Mr Yudhishthir Khatau MD of Varun Shipping said that "We will see the three sectors almost balancing with 30% to 33% of revenues in the next three to four years. With crude oil prices touching new highs, there is tremendous incentive for oil exploration companies to increase their exploration and production activity."

He said that "We plan to spend USD 300 million for buying new vessels in the crude oil transportation and offshore marine services space by the end of this financial year." He added that it plans to use internal accruals and raise debt for the new vessel purchases. It is looking for 3:1 to 4:1 debt equity ratio for the funding.

With 11 LPG carriers, Varun Shipping owns 80% of the LPG tonnage in India and has a market share of over 70% of the LPG cargo. Currently, it owns 3 crude oil tankers, 1 oil products tanker and 5 anchor handling and tug supply vessels used for offshore services.

GAIL to expand petrochemical business

BS reported that GAIL will focus on expanding its petrochemicals business and will raise the capacity of its plant in Pata in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.

Mr UD Choubey CMD of GAIL said that "We have decided to expand the Pata plant capacity to 500,000 tonne per annum by installing a sixth furnace at the gas cracker unit with an estimated investment of around INR 1 billion." He added that the cracker plant's ethylene output is likely to go up to 440,000 tonne in another 6 months utilizing 10% more than the designed capacity due to the installation of the fifth furnace.

After the completion of its 100,000 tonne per year new high density polyethylene plant late last year, the polymer production capacity of the Pata plant is currently at 410,000 tonne.

Mr Choubey said that US based process licensor Stone & Webster has suggested that installation of a sixth furnace was necessary for de bottlenecking the plant capacity to 500,000 tonnes.

GAIL also plans to increase its share in the lucrative petrochemical business, which contributed nearly 32 per cent to its bottom line in the financial year ended March 2008. During 2007-2008, GAIL's polymer production rose by 9% YoY to 386,000 tonne as against 354,000 tonne in the previous year.

Mr Choubey said the company has zeroed in on 5 options for the overseas plant, Qatar, Iran, Algeria, Nigeria and Russia. GAIL is also looking to participate in other international pipeline projects like the USD 13 billion Trans Saharan gas pipeline which would supply gas from Africa to the European market.

MoU soon for Sikkim underground expressway

Projects Today reported that Sikkim government is scheduled to sign a MoU with Star Universal Resource Company for the construction of an underground expressway on July 15th 2008.

The proposed underground expressway will start from eastern portion of Coronation Bridge at Sevoke in West Bengal and will directly connect to Gangtok.

There is another proposal to construct a set of tunnels and bridges from Gangtok to Nathula. It is proposed that two pairs of tunnels of about 100 square meters area each will be constructed. One pair will be for road connectivity and the other pair of tunnel will carry one standard broad gauge railway track in each tunnel. The project has already been approved in principle by the ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

The project is to be undertaken on BOT basis for construction and maintenance of the expressway, for a period of 45 years from the date of signing of agreement.

Sri Lankan government signs pact with Cairn India

It is reported that Sri Lankan government signed an agreement with Cairn India on July 7th 2008 for exploration of hydro carbon and natural gas in the Mannar Basin.

Under the agreement, Cairn India will start exploration activities in Block SL2007/01/001 in the Mannar Basin which covers 3,400 square kilometers at depths between 200 meters to 1,800 meters within 6 months. The work program includes proposals to acquire 5,000 kilometers of 2D, 1,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic and drill three wells in the initial three years of the 8 year exploration period.

Once commercial extraction commences, the oil company is allowed up to 65 per cent of the revenue to cover its investment. The government will receive a 10% royalty, USD 50 million production bonus, the profit share based on the investment multiple and 15% tax on contractor profit and other necessary taxes.

Steel pricing trends in India

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.

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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.

Nucor acquires 50% of Duferdofin Nucor Srl in Italy

Nucor Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of 50% of the stock of Duferdofin Nucor Srl for a purchase price of EUR 423.5 million (USD 658 million). The investment by Nucor values the new venture at around 6.3 times adjusted EBITDA. The company will continue to operate from its current headquarters in San Zeno Italy.

Duferdofin Nucor Srl operates a steel melting and bloom billet caster at San Zeno in Italy as well as rolling mills in Pallanzeno in the Piedmont region and Giammoro in Sicily. Total production in 2007 was approximately 1 million tonnes.

In addition, a new merchant bar mill is under construction at the Giammoro plant and is expected to be fully operational in late 2008. The new mill at the Giammoro plant is expected to produce approximately 450,000 tonnes.

The new company also includes the distribution companies of the former Duferdofin.

Mr Dan DiMicco chairman, CEO & president of Nucor said that "We are pleased to announce the successful creation of this new joint venture company owned equally by Duferco and Nucor. Nucor has been working together with Duferco to find the ideal combination of our physical and human assets. Duferdofin Nucor combines Nucor's world recognized know how in the efficient production of structural shapes with Duferdofin's strong management team and strategic locations in Italy. We look forward to Duferdofin Nucor becoming the premier supplier of beam products in Southern Europe and North Africa."

Sumitomo completes capacity expansion for seamless pipes

Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd announced that it has completed expansion work to add production capacity for high end seamless pipes at Steel Tube Works in Amagasaki and Wakayama Steel Works, both part of the Pipe & Tube Company of Sumitomo Metals. The operations have begun in the end of June 2008.

Capacity for seamless pipes has been increased by 100,000 tonnes particularly for high margin, distinctive super high end products such as super high alloy and 13% Cr OCTG pipe.

The release said that “Sumitomo Metal on the back of economic development of BRICs and other countries, global demand for energy has been growing and demand for seamless pipes used for exploration of oil and natural gas reserves, has continued to be at a high level. Furthermore, in recent years, in many parts of the world there has been a shift of the focus in energy demand from oil to natural gas, due to increasing need to reduce emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Natural gas is usually found in an extremely severe environment for wells at a few thousand meters below the surface of the ground, that is, much deeper than oil wells, and is often associated with highly corrosive gases.”

It added that “Responding to customer requirements and those of major oil companies in particular, Sumitomo Metals decided to expand capacity for producing high end seamless pipe for use in those severe environments in 2006.”

Sidor nationalization to affect Ternium presence in Venezuela

Steel group Ternium said in its annual consolidated report said that it believes the nationalization of its Venezuelan steelmaker Sidor will affect the group's competitive position in regional markets.

According to the reports, because of the nationalization, Ternium could also lose all or a significant share of its presence on the local Venezuelan market, adding that synergies it hoped to achieve via other acquisitions and investments will also be affected.

The report said that because of the government's decision to expropriate Sidor, Ternium also expects its sales to fall, along with operating profits and consolidated cash flow.

The company said that it still cannot determine what specific impact the nationalization will have on financial results but believes that Sidor's production volumes in 2008 will be considerably lower than figures in 2007, when the company produced 4.2 million tonnes.

Usiminas steps up investments for new mill

Reuters reported that Brazilian steel company Usiminas will expand and accelerate investment plans to cover the construction of a new 5 million tonne per year steel slab plant worth USD 5.7 billion.

Usiminas in a statement to the CVM market regulator said that it plans to invest USD 14.1 billion through 2012 to expand steel and iron ore production. Previously, the company had planned to invest USD 9.9 billion through 2015.

Usiminas said that in the new plan, it budgeted USD 5.7 billion for the construction of the new mill that will be the company's third plant and will be in Santana do Paraiso in Minas Gerais state, about 7 kilometers from the Usina Intendente Camara mill.

The new mill, which is expected to be operational in 2011 at half capacity, should raise the company's capacity to 14.5 million tonnes of steel a year by 2012 when it reaches full production.

South Korean steel demand growth to slow down in H2

It is reported that South Korean steel demand is expected to grow at a slower pace in the second half as falling usage by house builders more than offsets strength in shipbuilding and machinery manufacturing.

The Korea Iron & Steel Association said that total demand is likely to rise 6.8% in the second half from a year ago compared with an estimate of 11.4% growth in the first half. It said that demand in the second half may increase to 39.3 million tonnes.

It said that steel product exports are likely to increase 11.6% to 21.4 million tonnes this year as compared with a 5.2% gain a year earlier, as demand from emerging markets rises.

Mr Lee Myung Bak president of South Korea in a statement said that he may cut his economic growth target for Asia's fourth biggest economy for the next two years because of turmoil in financial markets and surging oil prices. Soaring fuel and food costs have pushed confidence among South Korea's consumers down to the lowest level since 2000. The statement said that “How the turmoil triggered by surging oil prices will affect domestic demand is likely to be a variable factor for the steel cycle.”

LME announces record half year trading volumes

The London Metal Exchange announced record trading volumes for the first half of 2008.

Over 54 million lots traded on the Exchange from January to the end of June across Futures and Options. This represents an increase of 17.5% on 2007 figures and a turnover of USD 5.6 trillion in notional value.

Seven contracts saw growth of more than 15% on 2007 figures
1. Primary Aluminum - 15.2%, to almost 26 million lots
2. The Copper Grade A - 16.4% to 13.14 million lots
3. Nickel - 31.6% to 2.58 million lots
4. Lead - 31% to 2.87 million lots
5. Tin - 21.6% to 0.77 million lots
6. The Special High Grade Zinc - 18.9% to just over 8 million lots
7. Aluminum Alloy – 28.5% to 0.3 million lots

Sims complete acquisition of UK Ferrous Recycle

Sims UK has completed the acquisition of Evans and Mondon Ltd based in the West Midlands of United Kingdom. The deal follows Sims’ strategy to expand its geographical coverage of the metals business in the Midlands region.

Evans and Mondon processes more than 30,000 tonnes a year. Its primary focus is on handling ferrous metal.

Mr Tom Bird MD of Sims Group UK said that "The West Midlands region is an area of the country where Sims Group has been keen to strengthen its foothold. Late last year we acquired ER Coley Ltd and the proximity of Evans and Mondon to this site allows for an easy consolidation of the two businesses with a combined total of 100,000 metric tons of metal per year.

He added that "These two businesses offer the perfect platform for Sims to continue its expansion into the Industrial Heartland of the UK."

Sims UK is a division of the Sims Group, the largest metals recycling company in the world.

Indian Steelmakers Directory 2008

The fast developing Indian steel industries are continuing beyond what most believed was possible. As one of the world's fastest growing economies, India has become the most happening place among world steel market over last few years and thus is in the radar of not only Indian but most of global players associated with steel industry. But due to fragmented nature of industry, a comprehensive list of smaller steel makers is not readily available.

"Indian Steelmakers Directory 2008' is one the top sources of information available on steel making companies in India! 'Indian Steelmakers Directory' is one of the most comprehensive and accurate directory of Indian steel companies that have ever been published. This powerful directory is your connection to the entire Indian steel industries sector.

Published in February 2008, “Indian Steelmakers Directory 2008” has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to India's rapidly growing steel makers. This Directory will be extremely useful to businesses that deal specifically with companies in the iron and steel industry, ferro alloys, consumable suppliers, raw material sellers, equipment makers and others.

Whether you are a product manager, in charge of marketing, raw material seller, in equipment business or simply interested to remain in touch with the latest developments in the Indian steel industries, this directory will save you time and effort in finding the information you need.

Why spend hundreds of hours searching for new contacts? Invest in a copy TODAY!

This directory covers name and details of 720 of Indian steelmakers in Alphabetical as well as location wise order.

Look at the information you'll get in the 'Indian Steelmakers Directory'

• Company name -723 entries
• Address-723 entries
• Phone number-723 entries
• Fax number -590 entries
• Email -446 entries

Report Summary:
1. Published: Feb 2008
2. Format PDF File (Delivery by Email on receipt of payment)
3. Total no of pages – 396

Price: USD 1250 or equivalent in INR
(Additional Charges would be levied for delivery of file on a CD or in printed form)

You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com

Feng Hsin increase stake in Vietnamese JV

Taiwan Feng Hsin Iron and Steel 's board of directors has proposed increasing its investment rate to 10% for the joint venture in Vietnam by Taiwan’s China Steel Corp and Japan’s Sumitomo Metals.

The investment will reach USD 57.5 million as compared to the previous USD 28.7 million.

El Mutun power grids 35% complete - Report

BNamericas reported that construction is 35% complete on power grids that will supply electricity to the El Mutún iron ore deposit in Bolivia's Santa Cruz department.

An executive at state steel company Esem told BNamericas that "The goal of the Bolivian rural power cooperative CRE is to have the first phase of the 4MW system ready by September adding that this stage of the project called for a USD 500,000 investment.”

Mr Alfredo Zaconeta a representative from Bolivia's mining ministry said that the first leg of the two phase electric supply project will power the offices of Esem and Indian company Jindal Steel & Power, the two companies in charge of developing the deposit.

He said that "The other phase involves a contract that the Bolivian state will have to sign for power infrastructure and basic services in order to meet [the needs of] a city with 20,000 people, which is the population that will spring up around El Mutún.”

In late June, Jindal signed an agreement with CRE for power supply to the project. However, El Mutún will also use 7.96Mm3/d of natural gas for direct reduction of iron ore and for thermo-power generation.

Jindal won the concession in June 2006 to develop 50% of El Mutún and signed the contract in July 2007. The project will include industrial development of the deposit and the installation of a steel plant to produce 1.7 million tonne per year of sponge iron and 1.4 million tonne per year of rolled steel for domestic use and export.

US weekly raw steel production up by 1.8% YoY

American Iron & Steel Industries reported that in the week ending July 5th 2008, US’s raw steel production was 2.096 million net tons while the capability utilization rate was 87.8%. Production was 2.059 million net tons in the week ending July 5th2007, while the capability utilization then was 87%. The current week production represents 1.8 % increase from the same period in 2007.

Production for the week ending July 5th 2008 is down 0.6% from the previous week ending June 28th 2008 when production was 2.108 million net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 88.4%

Adjusted YTD production through July 5th 2008 was 56.505 million net tons, at a capability utilization rate of 88.7%. That is a 2.4% increase from the 55.176 million net tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 85.7%.

District wise production for the week ending July 5th 2008
1. Northeast Coast: 178
2. Pittsburgh/Youngstown: 213
3. Lake Erie: 91
4. Detroit: 115
5. Indiana/Chicago: 463
6. Midwest: 265
7. Southern: 675
8. Western: 96
(In thousands of net tons)

AISI’s estimate is based on reports from companies representing about 75% of the US’s raw steel capability and includes revisions for previous months

CSC to hike export price by 20% to 30%

Taiwan’s China Steel Corp has announced that it would raise its export price by about 20% to 30% in the Q3 of 2008. Basically, CSC's raised export price level will be higher than its domestic price.

Since most of the global steel mills have raised their offer prices, CSC's price is about USD 200 per tonne lower than the international market price. This is the key reason that CSC has finally decided to raise its export price by about USD 200 to USD 230 per tonne in the third quarter.

(Sourced from YIEH.com)

US heavy structural imports decline in June

According to data issued by US Census Bureau, US import license applications for heavy structural dropped by 41%MoM to some 41,000 tons in June compared to May.

Imports from Taiwan decreased to 57 tons from 20,000 tons in May. Besides, imports from Mexico and Canada were 12,200 tons and 8,800 tons respectively.

Steel ventures in Indonesia facing delays due to iron ore linkages

ANTARA News reported that three Indonesian investors have been forced to put off plans to invest USD 600 million in the steel industry in South Kalimantan over uncertainty in basic material supply.

PT Krakatau Steel, which plans to build an iron ore processing plant at a cost of USD 60 million, has yet to go through protracted negotiations with iron ore mining concession holders and regional administrations.

An official said that two other investors PT Mandan Steel plan to invest USD 500 million and PT Semeru Surya Steel of PT Gunung Garuda group planning a USD 100 million investments are also facing uncertainty in iron ore supply.

PSI announces record orders book from steel sector

The PSI Group announced that it increased its new orders in the 2nd quarter of 2008 by 24 % to EUR 42 million compared to the same quarter of last year. The EBIT in the Q2 of 2008 increased by 40 % to about EUR 1.4 million. This is as announced, above the EBIT for the first quarter of 2008. In the first six months, new orders increased by 8 % to 78 million euros as compared to EUR 72 million in H1 of 2007. Adjusted for the sale of the government business in the middle of 2007 the increase is even 15 %. The EBIT for the first half of 2008 is, with about 2.7 million euros 50 % above EUR 1.8 million in H1 of 2007.

PSI Group said that “New orders increased in the Q2 primarily in exports and here in particular in the segments energy and steel. It has started into the second half of the year with a well filled sales pipeline and a very good volume of orders. The high costs of energy and raw materials have led PSI customers in the segments of energy and heavy industry to continued investments in expansion and efficiency. Management expects the development to continue in the second half of the year and will further strengthen PSI’s growth through acquisitions. As announced, the decision about raising the annual forecast will be made in the course of the Q3.

PSI AG develops and integrates individual solutions, on the basis of its own software, for the management of energy networks, cross company production management and infrastructure management for telecommunications, transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and currently employs more than 1,000 persons in the group.

Brazil settles slab export price with Asia

It is reported that a Brazilian slab mill has settled price negotiation with an Asian consumer for the shipments in the third quarter. The price was being traded at USD 1,050 per tonne FOB.

Asian steelmakers are usually buying slab from Brazil, Russia and Australia. However, Australia may exit from the market in the fourth quarter and Brazil will cut its supply at the same time. Consequently Brazil could become a major slab supplier to Asia.

(Sourced from YIEH.com)

Higher ferrous scrap price in Tokyo

JMB reported that ferrous scrap market price kept increasing around Tokyo in June. As per report the purchase price by local electric furnace steel makers increased by JPY 5,000 per tonne in the month under tight supply and the price is expected to keep firm when the supply keeps tight despite of the lower output plan by local steel makers.

Vinto extends deadline for alloy offers

BNAmericas reported that Bolivia's Vinto smelter complex has extended the deadline to July 11 for companies to place purchase offers for alloys such as tin antimony, bismuth lead and metallic lead metallic bismuth.

Mr Francisco Infantes CEO of Vinto's CEO told BNamericas that the deadline expired on July 1 but one company requested that it be extended.

Although the executive did not reveal which companies have already presented offers, the principal buyers of CMV's output are Swiss resources group Glencore International, China Minmetals, Venezuelan steelmaker Sidor along with Chilean, Brazilian and Colombian companies.

The executive said that CMV exported 3.5 million tonne of metallic tin and tin antimony alloy worth USD 71 million in the first five months of 2008.

Northwest Pipe bags major order from Ranger Pipeline

Northwest Pipe Company announced that it has received a verbal commitment from Ranger Pipelines of San Francisco, California to supply pipe for the Alternative Intake Project Pipeline in the Contra Costa Water District.

The Company will supply approximately 12,500 feet of 72" steel pipe valued at approximately USD 8 million for an engineered and custom fabricated piping system.

The pipe is expected to be manufactured in the Company's Adelanto, California division with delivery scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2009

SSAB plate division upgrades its supply chain software

It is reported that SSAB’s steel plate division is upgrading its use of i2’s supply chain solutions and migrating to the i2 Agile Business Process Platform to improve efficiency and supply chain visibility.

Mr Mats Carlsson quality planning and service manager at SSA said that the company has been using i2 for forecasting, planning and order management, but that migrating to the new platform will further improve ease of use, as well as business process and workflow management.

He added that “With this upgrade, SSAB Plate Division will ensure stability on a very important part in our order fulfillment process and also gain some advantages of new functionality. That’s because i2’s Agile Business Process Platform has better supply chain data management, staging and integration, an enhanced studio for development, testing and deployment, and an expanded collection of the company’s best practices and supply chain workflows.

Ameron appoints Ms Stanley as V P operations compliance

Ameron International Corporation announced the appointment of ms Christine Stanley to the position of VP (Operations Compliance). Ms Stanley most recently held the title of Group executive. She will report to Mr Gary Wagner president & CEO of Ameron

Ms Stanley will provide company wide support and oversight for Purchasing, Health, Safety and Environmental Affairs, Quality Assurance and Technology.

Ms Stanley joined Ameron in October 1985 as a Research Chemist and has held numerous senior technology and manufacturing management positions. She has also managed several special assignments for Mr James S Marlen chairman & CEO of Ameron

Ameron International Corporation is a multinational manufacturer of highly engineered products and materials for the chemical, industrial, energy, transportation and infrastructure markets.

Domestic steel prices in India, China and Middle East

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.

Carpenter completes sale of Rathbone Precision Metals business

Carpenter Technology Corporation announced the completion of the sale of its Rathbone Precision Metals business to Treci Srl controlling company of Calvi Holdings, Srl. The sale occurred on June 30th 2008 on a cash and debt free basis for a price of USD 17.5 million.

Rathbone is engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling precision formed shaped components in a variety of alloys in the United States and certain other countries.

ArcelorMittal publishes Corporate Responsibility report

ArcelorMittal announced the publication of its inaugural Corporate Responsibility Report for the year ending 2007: Taking Responsibility for Transforming Tomorrow.

Following on from the publication of a Corporate Responsibility review in January 2008, ArcelorMittal has published a more detailed report describing the approach and objectives over the coming years to address new challenges for the steel industry. The report is based around ArcelorMittal's four pillars of corporate responsibility: Workplace, Environment, Communities and Governance.

Highlights of the report include:

Workplace
1. USD 216 million invested in safety measures in 2007
2. Reduction in lost time incident rate on the previous year
3. Rolled-out new safety standards, 'golden rules' and behavioral safety audit program
4. Doubled the ArcelorMittal University budget in 2008 supported by new training, development and performance management initiatives.

Environment
1. USD 306 million invested in environmental measures in 2007
2. Increased level of environmental management certification across the Group
3. USD 214 million investment for Research & Development in 2007, including products for the renewable energy market
4. Increased use of High Strength Steels for construction and automotive sectors delivering savings in carbon dioxide emissions.

Communities
1. Socio-economic studies completed for our greenfield projects in India
2. Social action program underway in Liberia and Senegal
3. In 2007, the ArcelorMittal Foundation supported 587 projects with a monetary value of USD 47.9 million.

Governance
1. New corporate responsibility committees and governance structure in place
2. Continued training in the Group Code of Business Conduct for all employees
3. High rankings in 2007 external metals and mining investor relations studies recognizing good shareholder dialogue.

Mr Gonzalo Urquijo member of ArcelorMittal's Group Management Board in charge of Corporate Responsibility said that "This new report underlines our commitment to making Corporate Responsibility an everyday part of the way we do business. The process of annual reporting will help provide greater transparency and accountability to our key stakeholders, including our employees, customers, investors and more broadly the communities in which we operate."

Metso to supply minerals processing equipment to Canada

Metso Minerals announced that it will supply minerals processing equipment to Terrane Metals Corp for its Mt Milligan Copper Gold Project at British Columbia in Canada. The delivery will be completed during the third quarter of 2011. The value of the order is approximately EUR 43 million. The order is included in Metso's second quarter order backlog.

The order comprises a primary crusher, a SAG mill, two ball mills and other associated equipment. Once the Mt Milligan Copper Gold Project is in full operation, the average annual metal production over a 15.3 year mine life is forecast to be 88 million lb copper and 217,000 oz gold. Commercial production is scheduled for the first quarter in 2012.

Terrane Metals Corp is an exploration and mine development company focused on the development of the Mt Milligan copper gold and Berg copper-molybdenum-silver projects at British Columbia in Canada.

Hanjin wins USD 196.5 million order from Europe

Reuters reported that South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries Co had received a KRW 201.1 billion (USD 196.5 million) order to build two bulk ships for an unidentified European shipper.

Hanjin in a filing with the Korea Exchange said that the vessels would be delivered by the end of December, 2010.

ArcelorMittal SA to increase production at plant

Reuters reported that ArcelorMittal South Africa is aiming to increase production at its Newcastle plant by the fourth quarter of 2008.

ArcelorMittal SA in a statement said that the recent refurbishments to the plant, which cost around ZAR 300 million (USD 38.55 million) are expected to increase production.

The statement added that "ArcelorMittal South Africa aims to produce 5,132 tonnes per day by the fourth quarter of 2008, up from the pre reline current 4,660 tonne per day.”

The steel firm added that it expects production to increase by a further 5,440 tonnes per day by the end of 2008. It said that the repairs will extend operations at the plant until 2011, when it will begin a ZAR 20 billion expansion project at the sinter plant.

Iranian steel imports in 2 months dip by 5% YoY

According to Iranian customs statistics, steel imports decreased to some 1.65 million tonnes in the first 2 months of 2008. The figure has down by 5%YoY.

Imports of H beams declined by 53% YoY, rebar and wire rod decreased by 19% YoY and billets fell by 14% YoY. Only flat products increased by 23% YoY.

Jiangsu wins USD 500 million bulk carriers order from Al Jaber

Gulf News report the Al Jaber Group has awarded a USD 500 million contract to Chinese shipbuilder Jiangsu Hangtong Ship Heavy Industry to build and supply 8 bulk carriers. The deal will position Al Jaber Shipping Agency & Marine Works as the biggest privately owned shipping company in the Middle East with a total capacity of 651,800 DWT.

The deal will complement Al Jaber's fleet of 38 vessels. Al Jaber will receive the first vessel in October 2010, followed by a new vessel every 4 months.

Mr Obaid Khalifa chairman of Al Jaber Group said that "This purchase has officially made us the biggest private shipping company in the Middle East both in terms of tonnage capacity and number of ships."

Mr Mohammad Al Jaber CEO of Al Jaber Group said that "This deal is in line with our vision to continuously expand at all levels. Such moves secure the sustainable growth of the group and enable us to maintain our strong and competitive position."

Each of the new 8 double hull Dolphin type bulk carriers will have a cargo capacity of 56,300 tonnes and will be equipped with advanced marine technologies.

Established in 1970, Al Jaber Group is one of the leading business conglomerates in the UAE with revenues of over USD 2 billion.

9 international firms invited to bid for Makkah monorail project

Arab News reported that Haj pilgrims traveling between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa may be able to take advantage of the proposed monorail project by 2010. Nine international companies have been invited to bid for the SAR 5 billion project.

Dr Habib Zainul Abideen undersecretary for development projects at the ministry of municipal & rural affairs said that the winning company would be announced before September 2008. He added that work would start before Haj in 2008 to ensure the project’s completion in 18 months.

Mr Abideen said that a French consultancy is finalizing details and designs of the project which will be duly provided to the bidding companies. He further added that the train would run at heights of between 8 to 10 meters in order not to obstruct the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the ground.

Maritime industry in MEA draws USD 33 billion

Gulf News reported that oil fuelled growth has pushed up the Middle East's seaport and maritime facilities development and expansion bill to USD 33 billion as major shippers are increasing their order book.

According to Proleads research company, there are currently around 50 major seaport projects valued at more than USD 33 billion across the Middle East with individual budgets ranging from USD 10 million to USD 5.5 billion, which monitors all major regional construction.

Middle East is home to one of the world's largest container ports in Dubai's Jebel Ali, which currently handles around 11 million 20 feet equivalent container units a year. Jebel Ali expects to increase capacity to 80 million 20 foot equivalent units by 2030. The port is already expected to add a further 5 million units by early 2009.

Mr Christopher Hayman, MD of Seatrade Middle East Maritime said that "The emergence of strong and diversified maritime companies and operators is making the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf in particular one of the most dynamic and vibrant international maritime centres in the world."

Meanwhile, Ms Fatima Al Jaber COO of Al Jaber Group said that "With the increasing demands in the shipping sector in the region and due to the strategic position of the UAE. We were keen to upgrade our fleet and expand our operations with state of the art new ships that will cater to the needs of both local and regional shipping markets."

Dubai Maritime acquires mobile boat hoist

Gulf News report Dubai Maritime City, an industrial cluster under the Dubai World Group of companies, has acquired the world's largest mobile boat hoist that will help it in attracting business from small and medium sized vessels.

The hoist which weights 300 tonnes, is capable of lifting 720 tonnes boats. It will be load tested in early August 2008, and will be fully operational in October 2008. The hoist took a year to build in Italy and was assembled in 45 days in Dubai with the assistance of Italian industrial lifting equipment specialist Ascom.

Dubai Maritime City said in a statement that the lifting equipment will complement its 2 ship lifts as it will concentrate on the handling of smaller crafts particularly mega yachts.

Mr Ali Al Daboos COO of Dubai Maritime City said that "Positioning dedicated equipment for our small craft clients further focuses our services while speeding up and enhancing our overall boat handling capacity. The addition of this record breaking hoist affirms our commitment to becoming the premier maritime hub in the region and a preferred global port for some of the most unique shipping services in the world."

The new hoist has an average life of 150,000 small watercraft handling cycles, with each working cycle involving boat lifting; lay up location positioning; sling lifting; moving to next lift location and preparing for the next load.

Mr Nawal Saigal MD of Drydocks World said that "Dubai is looking to expand the range of services to the small and medium sized vessel owners through its dedicated facility. The new hoist will add to our capability in handling smaller vessels especially yachts, which is a market that we are focused on tapping into with added zeal."

Nurol bags Reem Island bridges construction order

It is reported that Nurol Construction & Trading Company has won a USD 60.7 million bridge construction package for Sorouh Real Estate's Shams Abu Dhabi project on Reem Island.

The contractor has 640 days to complete the construction of 13 bridges at the USD 6.8 billion development. The company fended off competition from 12 other contractors for the package.

The bridges will form part of the loop road bridging 4 kilometers of artificial canals and will transport all utility duct banks including gas, power and district cooling.

Mr Mounir Haidar CEO of Sorouh Real Estate said that "The concepts for the structures have been developed taking into account the visual impact of the structures. The objective is to create a sense of identity for each district by creating a distinctive visual appearance."

The project is divided into 5 neighborhoods, each with a distinct style and bridges will be designed to complement the overall aesthetic of each district.

Habshan oil pipeline to finish ahead of schedule - Report

It is reported that Abu Dhabi is expected to step up construction of a trans emirate oil pipeline to finish the project ahead of schedule to ensure free flow of its crude exports following heightened tension in the region.

An industry source said that work on the 360 kilometers pipeline which will link major wells in the oil rich Habshan area had been scheduled for completion in 2010 but the project could be finished before.

The source added that "The project is crucial for the continuation of Abu Dhabi's oil exports in case of the closure of the Hormuz Strait as the pipeline bypasses that strategic waterway and transports crude oil straight out of the Gulf. Such projects cannot afford to be delayed and I believe Abu Dhabi will ask the contractors to hasten its implementation following escalating geo political tensions. Abu Dhabi cannot afford the interruption of its crude exports for a long time as they constitute the lifeline of its economy."

The 48 inches diameter pipeline will traverse most of the UAE dessert as it will cut across sandy areas east of Abu Dhabi city through Suweihan, passing west of Al Ain and ending in the port of Fujairah just outside the Gulf. It will transport nearly 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil from Abu Dhabi's main oilfields to Fujairah where a strategic crude reservoir will be set up. From Fujairah crude oil will be loaded aboard tankers anchored in safe waters outside the Gulf.

The Gulf plans were prompted by recurrent attacks on shipping during the 1980 to 88 Iran-Iraq war threats to close Hormuz, through which hundreds of oil tankers and other vessels pass daily. While part of Saudi's oil exports pass through Hormuz as it has crude terminals outside the Gulf, most of the UAE crude exports and that of other Gulf States flow out of Hormuz. Only Oman is outside Hormuz.

The pipeline will also serve a planned grassroots refinery to be built in Fujairah by the Abu Dhabi owned International Petroleum Investment Company as part of an investment drive in the UAE and other countries. The pipeline's capacity accounts for more than 60% of Abu Dhabi's total oil exports although industry sources believe it could be expanded at a later stage.

IPIC awarded the pipes supply contracts worth USD 460 million to 3 companies namely Sumitomo of Japan, Salzgitter Mannesmann International of Germany and Jindal Group of India. EPC contractor, China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation started work.

Damac launches 2 residential projects in Qatar

It is reported that Damac has opened its first sales office in Qatar. In April 2008, it launched 2 residential projects Garden Heights and The Terrace at Fox Hills both at the Lusail development.

Mr Peter Riddoch CEO of Damac Properties said that "The Qatari real estate sector which has evolved substantially over the years is currently experiencing an incredible demand for highly profitable real estate investments. Business Square is a step forward by us to strengthen our presence and showcase our commitment to the Qatari market."

He further added that "We are moving aggressively into Qatar with 2 residential launches, the opening of our first sales office and our first commercial tower launch in just over 2 months. Business Square benefits greatly from its ideal location as Lusail the master development encourages inbound investment and provides world class living and working environments that will stimulate the local economy."

Port of Sohar attracts global container carrier APL

It is reported that global container carrier APL has commenced services to the Port of Sohar with the arrival of a giant container ship on a maiden visit to the industrial port’s Oman International Container Terminal. MV APL Chile, a 4,038 TEU vessel deployed by APL on its China Middle East service, has discharged 593 TEU of containers destined for Muscat based consignees.

A statement by OICT said that APL’s decision to call at Sohar attests to the terminal’s competitive prices and superior performance characterized by a gantry crane productivity of 30 moves per hours and a truck turnaround of 20 minutes. All data interchanges are facilitated by OICT’s real time online computerized system which automatically tracks the movements of all containers without manual intervention.

The visit, the first by an APL vessel underlines Sohar’s growing appeal to international container shipping lines particularly in light of the world class services offered by OICT.

APL’s China Middle East Express is 1 of the industry’s fastest services that connects North China through Shanghai as well as Hong Kong, South China directly to the Middle East. Since it was launched in 2004, the CMX service has been increasingly popular with shippers looking to capitalize on the fast growing trade between China and the Middle East.

Import volumes of Muscat bound containers are expected to grow at Sohar as consignees see the logistical and economic benefits of operating through OICT. APL’s maiden visit to Sohar is a major boost for OICT as it seeks to position itself a world class container terminal in the Lower Gulf. A subsidiary of Singapore based Neptune Orient Lines APL’s global container shipping business offering more than 60 weekly services and nearly 300 calls at more than 90 ports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. It combines world class intermodal operations with leading edge IT and e commerce.

OICT is a member of Hutchison Port Holdings, the world’s leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in a total of 292 berths in 47 ports, spanning 24 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. Hutchison Port Holdings also owns a number of transportation related service companies. In 2007, the HPH Group handled a combined throughput of 66.3 million TEU worldwide.

USD 804 million petrochemicals exported from Iran

Mehr News Agency reported that over USD 804.4 million worth of petrochemical products have been exported abroad in the first quarter of the current Iranian. It indicates an increase of 82% YoY compared to the same period in 2007.

Over USD 96 million metal wares have been exported indicating a 66% YoY rise compared to the same period in 2007. Over USD 12 million minerals have been exported showing a 69% YoY decrease compared to the same period in 2007.

Mr Ali Arsh appointed as director of NIOC

IRINN reported that Mr Seyfollah Jashnsaz MD of National Iranian Oil Company has installed Mr Ali Asghar Arshi as the new director of the NIOC’s international affairs department.

Mr Arshi has already served as the head of the crude oil marketing and selling department at the NIOC.

Steel prices 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.

Shougang to suspend steel production during 2008 Olympics

It is reported that Shougang will cease steel production for the most part in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games and will then wind down its 8 million tonnes of capacity before the deadline of 2010.

As per report, back to 2005 some heavy polluting enterprises including Shougang were listed in the catalogue of relocation plan by the government. Just in the same year, Shougang and Tangshan Steel jointly set up Shougang Jintang Corporation in Hebei province, namely the new Shougang. From then on, the moving of Shougang got afoot.

The new established steel company has also caused 35 small severe polluting steelmakers in Hebei to be shut down equal to an annual capacity of 7.3 million tonnes. The move can reduce 18,000 tonnes of inhalant particles for Beijing each year, equal to 23% of the total volume of the city, and 23,000 tonnes of coal powder and 24,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide for Tangshan district, Hebei province.

(Source: www.chinanews.com)

FerroChina seeks USD 200 million loans through Credit Suisse

Reuters reported that Credit Suisse is arranging a USD 200 million loan for Singapore listed steelmaker FerroChina to refinance debt and for other corporate needs.

One of the sources briefed on the deal told Reuters that the three year syndicated loan will offer 450 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate.

A dealer at a local broker said "In current market conditions, this should be bearish news as USD 200 million will add to gearing. It said previously the firm also issued some convertible bonds, so market investors may view it as negative news because of its over gearing, and it looks like their debt level is pretty high."

FerroChina's long term debt to equity ratio is 0.19 which is higher than most other Singapore listed steel firms.

Chinese domestic HRC price rebound on short supply

It is reported that home hot rolled steel coil prices in China have rebounded in July and it is better than people have expected.

Shanghai Ruikun Materials Co Ltd which is specialized in trading of hot rolled steel coil and cold rolled steel coil said that the rebound is attributable to relief of capital availability of capital and a sharp increase of CNY 200 per tonne in ex works price by Shagang.

The following facts and reasons are believed to result in the rebound in domestic HRC price:

1. Short supply due to maintenance by steel makers. Brief statistics show that four steel mills started their equipment maintenance in last month and the average duration is 9 days. It has led to a decrease of 380,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes in output and supply pressure is relieved.

2. Rising cost is bolstering price increase. For example, gasoline and diesel prices have been raised by CNY 1000 per tonne since June19th. Electricity fee was raised by CNY 0.025 per KWH and the average increase in steel production cost is CNY 6.25 per tonne and it means a rise of CNY 12 per tonne to CNY 35 per tonne for special steel producers.

Hence, cost is up by CNY 300 per tonne as a result of increase in iron ore, coal, oil and electricity prices. Steel mills have to raise ex works prices to offset the added cost. Some steel makers in East China shot up HRC price by CNY 200 per tonne and the latest level is CNY 6100 per tonne for commercial 5.5mm up HRC.

3. Strong international steel prices support steel exports. Average HRC prices in Middle and East America and the EU is USD 1202 per tonne and USD 1279 per tonne. Export quotation for products from CISA has reached USD 1050 per tonne FOB. Further, South Korea steel producer has shot up ex works price by USD 145 per tonne.

Great price gap between Chinese domestic price and international level resulted in robust steel outflow. HRC export tonnage in May is about 1 million tonne up by 18.5% YoY and 26.1% MoM. The volume is expected to jump to 1.2 million tonne for June or July shipment.

According to industry insiders despite above mentioned factors that push up the increase in July, there are also such uncertainties as possible increase in export tariff rate and the fact that downstream users probably could not afford such expensive steel products later,. Hence, it is still important to pay attention to possible decrease in the summer.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Wuhan Steel produce 6.26 million tonnes of crude steel in H1

It is reported that Central China's Wuhan Steel has churned out 6.26 million tonnes of crude steel as of June 30th, 140,000 tonnes more than its production goal.

As per report, Wuhan Steel has produced a total of 194 million tonnes of crude steel by the end of last year, with pre tax profit of CNY 101.4 billion. And its output capacity had approached nearly 30 million tonnes after its merger with Echeng Steel, Liuzhou Steel and Kunming Steel.

Tangshan Steel closure of small BFs not to effect output

Bloomberg reported that Tangshan Iron & Steel Co closure of three blast furnaces for the Beijing Olympics would not reduce output.

Mr Zhang Long Tangshan Iron & Steel Co spokesman the company said that company built a 3,200 cubic meter blast furnace, which started operation last year, to replace the three 450 cubic meter mills.

He said that “It is in line with our plan to close the small furnaces as the government wants to replace small, obsolete plants with bigger ones to boost efficiency.''

SSI to buy steel plant equipments from China

It is reported that Sahaviriya Group, Thailand's biggest steel producer, hired China's Sino International Heavy Industry Technology Limited to buy machinery and technology worth CNY 10 billion for its plant.

As per the report, Sahaviriya plans to produce 5 million tonnes of billet and slabs annually in the next two years.

Hebei Province to eliminate 5.15 million tonnes of iron making capacity

It is reported that province Hebei is making great efforts in reducing energy cost and pollution in iron and steel industry at the same time of optimizing product mix, raising quality and profit.

As per report, in H1 of 2008, the profit in iron and steel industry in province Hebei increased by 43.22% YoY and integrate energy cost in key steelworks decreased by 17.27% YoY.

According to statistics, province Hebei has cumulatively eliminated 3.7 million tonnes of iron making capacity and 7.49 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity since 2003.

By the end of 2010, province Hebei plans to close down 35 outdated steel companies and to eliminate 5.15million tonnes of iron making capacity and 8.13 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity.

Chinese CRC export offer slightly down

It is 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 remain at CNY 7300 per tonne, 1.2mm to 2.0mm material at USD 7200 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 drop to CNY 7120 per tonne from CNY 7150 per tonne.

As per report, export price for 1.0mm CRC is at around 1140 per tonne FOB and most cargo was concluded at USD 1115 per tonne to USD 1120 per tonne FOB. However, output is said to remain at low level and most steel makers only set aside 20,000 to 30,000 tonne as export allocation.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Billet price further increase in Jiangsu

It is reported that billet market shows overall upswings recently in Jiangsu.

As per report, price for common carbon billet has advanced by CNY 100 per tonne to CNY 5400 per tonne, price for low alloy billet up by CNY 50 per tonne to CNY 5400 per tonne.

Local enterprises note that the reviving rebar market has pushed up billet prices. And mainstream offer price goes at CNY 5260 per tonne to CNY 5270 per tonne for free inspection whereas large scale rebar in Shanghai up by CNY 30 per tonne from the previous day and CNY 5150 per tonne to CNY 5160 per tonne for other grades up by CNY 50 per tonne. Higher raw materials prices like coke have placed a solid floor under billet market.

Mysteel predicts the local billet price would vibrate in days to come.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

China COSCO H1 2008 net profit up by 90%

Reuters reported that China COSCO Holdings Co net profit in the H1 2008 up by 90%.

China COSCO bought major shipping assets from its parent group late last year. It estimated that including those assets, it would have made a net profit of CNY 7.05 billion in H1 of 2007 under Chinese accounting standards.

According to the report, listed Chinese companies are required to release preliminary earnings estimates if they expect to report swings of over 50%. China COSCO is due to announce first half earnings in August.

Dazhou Steel granted ISO14001

It is reported that recently, Dazhou Iron and Steel Group successfully passed the certification of ISO14001-GB/T28001 environment of occupational health and safety management system and got the certificate awarded by Sichuan Three Gorge Authentication Company.

The implementation of environment of occupational health and safety management system can not only help Dazhou iron and Steel Group control and reduce the occupational health and safety, but also help the company enhance the integrated competitiveness.

The current environment and safety, health problem have became the global focus. The enterprise whether implement ISO14001-GB/T28001 environment of occupational health and safety management system is one of the required conditions to eliminate trade barriers, and participate in the international market competition.

Jinan became the nation's largest export enterprise for high strength steel

It is reported that the high strength steel export volume of Jinan Iron and Steel Group for the first half year exceeded 16,000 tonnes and became the domestic largest high strength steel export enterprise, realized a historic breakthrough.

As per report, Jigang Technology Center made innovation in the work of developing products the products entered into Beijing Olympic Games nest etc key projects one after another with thickest of the its products reaching 50.8mm.

high strength steel mainly be used in the manufacturing of engineer machinery and construction steel for key projects, because of its high technology content in the past had all long been monopolize by Germany, Japan etc well known steel enterprise, in recent years, only a few domestic iron and steel enterprises can produce the high strength steel.

Shanghai Port H1 net profit up by 30%

Reuters reported that Shanghai International Port net profit in the H1 of 2008 was estimated to have risen at least 30%.

Shanghai Port in a brief statement said all areas of its business were developing well with revenues rising and costs under control.

According to the report, Shanghai Port in the H1 of 2007 made a profit of CNY 1.83 billion.

Shanghai Port is expected to make a full first-half earnings report next month.

Electrical steel market at Shanghai remains stable

It is reported that the cold rolled silicon steel price remains stable.

1. Baosteel made 470 grades is offered at CNY 9050 per tonne
2. Wuhan Steel made 600 at CNY 8300 per tonne
3. Angang made 800 is posted at CNY 7850 per tonne
4. Baosteel made 1300 grade at CNY 8050 per tonne
5. Oriented silicon steel 30Q130 stands at CNY 46500 to CNY 47000 per tonne.

China influencing global trends for steel

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.

Mechel Chelyabinsk orders for rail and structural mill

Mechel OAO announces the signing of a contract between its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO subsidiary and Danieli to supply technology and equipment to construct a rail and structural steel mill at CMP.

According to release, Italian based Danieli, a world leader in developing technologies and manufacturing equipment for steel production, and Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO have signed the contract for the supply of technology and equipment for a rail and structural steel mill, which has over 1 million tonne annual production capacity.

The released added that the rail and structural steel mill would be capable of producing structural shapes of a wide range of size and grade. Its basic product mix will include narrow, mid, and wide flange beams; parallel flange edge channels; equal and unequal angles; and special profiles, such as Larssen sheet pile, pit props, Z-sections. The mill will primarily manufacture high quality railroad rails up to 100 meters in length using state of the art technologies for steel rolling, hardening, straightening, finishing, and rail quality control.

The new rail and structural steel mill will be equipped with universal stands enabling the highest rolling preciseness. The mill’s capabilities will enable low cost production of category “V” rails and a wide range of other products with steady geometric section parameters and lower metal consumption due to profiles’ precision and thermo strengthening.

Mr Vladimir Polin CEO of Mechel Management OOO said “We have been successfully working with Danieli for many years and strengthened our relationship with them in April 2008 with the signing of a long term agreement. Under the agreement, Danieli has developed special technologies to Mechel’s technical specifications enabling us to manufacture rails that meet all requirements of Russian and European railroaders. The execution of the contract to supply equipment and technology for the rail and structural steel mill is a crucial stage in the project to manufacturing structural shapes and 100 meter railroad rails at CMP. Once the mill is commissioned, which we expect in 2010, Mechel will become the main manufacturer of long rails in Russia. We expect that long rails produced at CMP will outperform any world analogues in a number of necessary characteristics that are determined by the climate conditions of rail exploitation in Russia.”

He said that “In February 2008, Mechel OAO and Russian Railways signed a on a long-term, mutually beneficial agreement to supply railroads in Russia with rolled products for transportation purposes manufactured at Mechel’s subsidiaries. Thus, already today, we have secured a guaranteed market for no less than 400,000 tonnes of our rails annually.”

MMK to spend USD 472 million on Russian auto steel plant

Bloomberg reported that OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel, Russia's will spend as much as EUR 300 million to build a plant in St Petersburg to supply auto body sheet to foreign carmakers in the area.

The St Petersburg government in a statement said the plant will be operational by the end of 2009 and have an initial capacity of 250,000 tonnes. It said Magnitogorsk will invest EUR 270 million of its own money and spend an additional EUR 30 million from the venture's operational profit.

According to the report, the factory will be located 5 kilometers from the Shushary industrial zone on the outskirts of St Petersburg, where Toyota Motor Corp opened a plant last December.

Ukraine inks steel plant deal with Voestalpine

Ukrainian Journal Staff reported that Ukraine's Industry Ministry has signed a memorandum on the construction of a steel mill in Odessa region with Austria's Voestalpine.

According to the ministry, the memo was signed by Mr Volodymyr Novistky chairman of the interagency working group for cooperation with Voest-Alpine and Mr Gunther Brunnbauer head of the SEE Steel project on the construction of the steel mill of Voestalpine.

SCM to joins Go Green environmental campaign of UN

Ukrainian Journal Staff reported that Donetsk based System Capital Management has joined the Go Green national environment protection campaign, which was initiated by the UN representative office in Ukraine.

Donetsk-based System Capital Management said that the signing of a Go Green declaration by SCM and other companies and non government organizations operating in Ukraine marks the start of the introduction of a national environmental protection campaign.

Mechel starts offering of preferred shares

Mechel OAO, one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announced the launch of its offering of preferred shares and Global Depositary Receipts.

According to the release, the preferred shares will be listed on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange and the Russian Trading System under symbol MTLRP and the GDRs are expected to be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on its Regulated Market. Each GDR will represent an interest in one preferred share.

The released also added that the offering is expected to consist of up to 55,000,000 preferred shares. According to the Company's charter, the dividend per each outstanding preferred share is equal to 20% of the consolidated net income of Mechel determined pursuant to US. GAAP divided by 138,756,915, a number fixed in the Company's charter and which is the current number of authorized preferred shares.

Morgan Stanley and Renaissance Capital have been appointed as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offering and KIT Finance has been appointed as co-underwriter and co-lead manager.

Automaker lowers his forecast of 2008 new car sales in Ukraine

Ukrainian Journal Staff cited Mr Dmytro Baranovsky director of Atlant-M Chinese Cars Company said during a roundtable on the trends of the development of the Ukrainian car market that the growth in sales of new cars in Ukraine in 2008 could be 15% to 18%, or 620,000 to 650,000 cars, and not 30% to 38% as was forecast at the start of the year.

He said that "It was foreseen that this year 700,000 to 750,000 new cars would be sold, a rise of 30% to 38% compared to 2007. Unfortunately, these forecasts could fail, despite the fall in import duties from 25% to 10%."

Russia to stop shipping oil through Baltic States

Bloomberg cited Mr Ivars Godmanis PM of Latvian as saying that Russian plans to stop shipping coal and oil products through the Baltic States conflicts with its aim to join the World Trade Organization.

Mr Godmanis said in an interview with Latvijas Neatkariga Televizija program 900 Seconds that Russia cannot discriminate' against some ports if it wants to be in the WTO.

He said that “More likely, I think that these announcements are the kind that doesn’t have an especially big connection with practical life. We are for practical relations'' with Russia, he said on the television program.”

According to the Latvian central statistics office the transportation, storage and communications industries made up about 10.8% of Latvia's economy in 2007 compared with 15.3% in 2003.

Russia transit payments possible - Finland ministry

Reuters reported that Finland may be able to retaliate against increased Russian wood export tariffs by making Russian transit traffic pay for using Finnish roads.

Finland's Foreign Ministry said collecting payments might be a measure allowed under international treaties and Finland could also compensate its forestry companies for the export duties Russia levies on their raw materials.

Mr Paavo Vayrynen Finland's Foreign Trade Minister said "My wish is that we would not have to take the measures studied in this report. He said that we think it is possible to institute payments and, on the other hand, also to offer customs relief."

Mr Vayrynen proposed last month Finland should consider collecting payments from Russian transit traffic to compensate Finnish forestry companies for the higher duties. But his proposal had since run into difficulties as the Finnish transport ministry raised objections. EU officials also said a possible such move by Finland could break European Union rules.

Tatneft crude output in H1 2008 up by 0.7% YoY

RIA Novosti reported that Tatneft, one of Russia's top 10 oil producers produced 13 million tonnes in the H1 of 2008 up by 0.7% YoY against the same period last year.

According to the report, Tatneft produced 2.2 million tonnes of crude in June 2008 up by 0.4% from June 2007.

Tatneft is based in Tatarstan and accounts for more than 80% of the republic's oil output.

Domestic steel prices in emerging 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.

Mr Potanin elected as chairman of new Norilsk Nickel board

The newly elected Board of Directors of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel had its first meeting on July 7th 2008.

The Board of Directors elected Mr Vladimir Potanin, president of CJSC Interros Holding Company, as the chairman of the Board of Directors and appointed Mr Sergey Batekhin, deputy GD of Interros, as GD of the Company.

Mr Batekhin will assume his responsibilities as GD on July 21st 2008. He replaces Mr Denis Morozov who had been GD of the Company since April 3rd 2007.

Mr Morozov said that "I requested the new board to reconfirm my authority as CEO since my continued ability to lead the Company at the time of competing interests of major shareholders required the full support and cooperation of the entire board of directors.”

Mr Morozov added that “I began my professional life here 10 years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed participating in the development of one of Russia’s leading public corporations as it became an important player in the global mining and metals industry. The primary goals set a year and a half ago when I was appointed General Director have been achieved. I would like to thank all my colleagues who have been supporting me during these years and who helped Norilsk Nickel to prosper in the interests of all its shareholders."

Ferrochrome prices may increase by 10%for Q4

Reuters reported that South African ferrochrome producer expects that prices for the metal to rise more than 10% in the fourth quarter.

Mr Jasper Pieters operations director of Hernic Ferrochrome on the sidelines of the ferroalloys meeting in Johannesburg told Reuters that input prices were soaring and ferrochrome may follow suit. He said that "We see almost a monthly increase in various input costs. Fuel, coking coal, coal, mining costs.”

He added that "I see ferrochrome prices increasing more than 10% or higher depending on the input costs."

Benchmark ferrochrome prices, rose in Europe by 6.8% for the third quarter, to a record level of USD 2.05 per pound, up from USD 1.92 per pound in the second quarter of 2008. Analysts had hoped for a jump of 15% to 20% to USD 2.20 to USD 2.30 per short ton.

Indian Stainless Steelmakers Directory 2008

The fast developing Indian steel industries are continuing beyond what most believed was possible.

As one of the world's fastest growing economies, India has become the most happening place among world steel market over last few years and thus is in the radar of not only Indian but most of global players associated with steel industry. But due to fragmented nature of industry, a comprehensive list of smaller steel makers is not readily available.

'Indian Stainless Steelmakers Directory 2008' is one of the top sources of information available on steel making companies in India. It is one of the most comprehensive and accurate directory of Indian steel companies that have ever been published. This powerful report is your connection to the entire Indian steel industries sector.

Published in March 2008, 'Indian Stainless Steelmakers Directory 2008' has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to India's rapidly growing steel makers. This report will be extremely useful to businesses that deal specifically with companies in the iron and steel industry, ferroalloys, consumable suppliers, raw material sellers, equipment makers and others.

Whether you are a product manager, in charge of marketing, raw material seller, in equipment business or simply interested to remain in touch with the latest developments in the Indian steel industries, this directory will save you time and effort in finding the information you need.

This report will enable you to profile steel makers in India, build new business prospects, generate new customers, discover who your competitors are and make vital contacts. You would save the time, money and effort of doing your own research. This directory has been especially compiled to assist with market research, strategic planning, as well as contacting prospective clients or suppliers. It is also an indispensable guide to India’s and steel industries.

Why spend hundreds of hours searching for new contacts? Invest in a copy TODAY!

This report covers name and product details of 55 of Indian stainless steelmakers in Alphabetical as well as production wise order.

Look at the information you'll get in the 'Indian Stainless Steelmakers Directory 2008'

• Company name -55 entries
• Address-55 entries
• Phone number-55 entries
• Fax number -55 entries
• Email -55 entries
• Products & Services

Report Summary:
1. Published: Mar 2008
2. Format PDF File (Delivery by Email on receipt of payment)
3. Total no of pages – 55

Price: USD 350 or equivalent in INR
(Additional Charges would be levied for delivery of file on a CD or in printed form)

You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com

Chinese nickel pig iron makers switching to EAF

Bloomberg reported that Chinese nickel pig iron producer Tsingshan Holding Group is building electric furnaces to make the nickel substitute and said its rivals are doing likewise after coking coal prices jumped on shortages.

Mr Jiang Xinfang director at Tsingshan's trading unit said that the furnaces are scheduled to begin production next year. But he declined to disclose production capacity.

Mr Jiang said that “Electric powered furnaces are likely to be the future for our industry as they have considerable cost advantages compared with coal powered ones and are more environmental friendly too.”

Mr Wang Chongfeng an analyst at CBI China said that “Changing to electrics powered facilities is the trend for Chinese nickel pig iron industry. This could lead to reduced output of the substitute because electric furnaces normally produce less.''

Mr Wang of Jinchuan Group Ltd said that a majority of Chinese nickel pig iron producers are either suspending production or switching to other metals because demand from stainless steel makers is lagging supply.

Most of China's nickel pig iron is made in blast furnaces which burn coking coal, while only a small portion is made in electric powered furnaces. China's use of the metal, used as a substitute for nickel in stainless steel production, has pushed prices down by more than 50% from a record in May 2007 on the London Metal Exchange.

China's nickel pig iron output has stalled at around 90,000 tonnes a year as the government shuts small blast furnaces to save energy and improve the environment and as production costs rise.

Fujian Desheng Nickel secures funding for new project

Economic Information Daily reported that Fujian Desheng Nickel Products Co Ltd acquired a credit line of CNY 800 million from Bank of China as soon as they had successfully established an overall strategic partnership on July 3rd 2008

As per report, Desheng Nickel is planning to inject the CNY 800 million in its nickel alloy producing base construction, which, with an investment of CNY 2.6 billion will be the largest nickel alloy producing base in China after completion.

Seating at an industrial district in Luoyuan, Fujian, the producing base will yield 920,000 tonnes of nickel alloy annually and will increase about CNY 10 billion of annual output value after putting into production in 2009.

FeMo market in China stays stable at the moment

It is reported that China's FeMo price remains steady at the moment in thin trading.

As per report, Mo60 is posted at CNY 280,000 per tonne at Jinzhou district in Liaoning province, CNY 278,000 per tonne in Henan province, CNY 279,000 per tonne in Anhui province and CNY 280,000 per tonne in Beijing. Domestic 45% Mo concentrate stands at CNY 4150 per MTU and FeMo for export stays at USD 80 per KGMo.

From the second half of last week, domestic FeMo price dips a little with general quotation at CNY 278,000 per tonne to CNY 280,000 per tonne and Mo60 made by some Northeast plants offered at CNY 280,000 per tonne in cash.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Import price of Chrome ore at Tianjin port

It is reported that import price of chrome in Tianjn port is as under

Price in CNY per MTU

Keep track of steel prices in India, China and Middle East

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.

Murchison drops Midwest offer paving way for Sinosteel

It is reported that Murchison Metals Ltd dropped its AUD 1.5 billion all share proposal to buy Midwest Corp leaving China's Sinosteel Corp as the sole bidder.

Perth based Murchison said on July 7th in a statement to the Australian stock exchange that Murchison failed to win the support of China's second largest iron ore trader Sinosteel, which controls 45.6% of Midwest, for its bid in weekend talks.

Mr Paul Kopejtka chairman of Murchison said “We have tried to reach agreement with Sinosteel to support the merger. However, Sinosteel made it clear that its primary objective at this time is to gain outright control of Midwest and we could not agree terms that made sense for our shareholders.''

Sinosteel has offered AUD 1.36 billion in cash. Murchison doesn't plan to accept Beijing based Sinosteel's offer for its 10% stake.

According to the report, Midwest was unchanged at Sinosteel's offer price of AUD 6.38 a share July 7 on the exchange. Murchison fell 3.3% to AUD 2.90.

Coal of Africa signs MoU with Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto Group and Kwezi Group Ltd signed an accord with Coal of Africa Ltd granting the smaller company access to ground near its Makhado coking coal project in South Africa.

Coal of Africa in a statement to the Australian stock exchange said that “This is expected to add significant highly prospective acreage to the current project area and improve the economics of the proposed 5 million tonne per annum mining operation planned to commence in June 2009.”

The statement added that “The companies have also agreed to explore for coal resources in other projects in the northern part of the Limpopo province. No financial details of the accord were disclosed.”

Mr Simon Farrell MD of CoAL said that “It is very pleasing to bring these discussions to finalization. CoAL is committed to bringing its Limpopo properties into production in the second half of next year and this agreement certainly contributes to achieving that goal in a very major way."

Coal of Africa Limited is primarily focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of thermal and metallurgical coal projects. The Company's key projects, along with its leading metals processing company NiMag Group Ltd are in South Africa.

Newcastle coal exports fall 17.3% - Industry Sources

According to an industry sources, coal exports from Australia's Newcastle port fell by 17.3% over the past week, while queues for loading rose to 41 ships as congestion issues persisted.

Newcastle Port Corp said that exports at the New South Wales port, the world's largest coal export terminal, dropped to a three week low of 1.702 million tonnes for the week to July 7, versus 2.059 million for the week to June 30th 2008. Also, 41 vessels were waiting off the port to load coal, up from 38 ships in the previous week.

The port's logistics team Hunter Valley Coal Chains said that on turn loading was affected by consistent demand and un cleared coal leftovers. It added that "Some small portions of coal were left in the port due to lack of cooperation between suppliers, so loading rate was slower.”

Data showed that waiting time for last week rose slightly to 12.93 days, with 23 ships newly arrived in the port.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)

CIL to invite global agencies for drilling coal reserves

BS reported that Coal India Limited is in the process of identifying global agencies for drilling indicative coal reserves in India. At the moment, CIL drills around 200,000 meters a year, which it plans to double in the current fiscal.

Mr PS Bhattacharya chairman of CIL said that "Central Mining & Planning Design Institute has the technology to drill 400,000 meters a year but ideally it should be 1 million meters annually. For this we need foreign expertise and hence a global tender would be floated soon."

He added that "As per the discussion with the ministry we are planning to drill 1 million meters annually for the next three years till 2012, this would help to prove most of the available reserves. To meet the future demand we need to bring more and more indicated reserves into the proven category."

China shuts more coal power plants on coal shortages

It is reported that China, the world's second biggest energy consumer, has shut 2.5% of its coal fired power plants, prompting local governments to limit electricity consumption and issue warnings on possible blackouts.

According to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, insufficient coal supplies forced the closure of 58 power generating units in central and northern China as of July 6th or 14,020 MW of capacity. China's total coal fired capacity stood at 554,420 MW in 2007.

Mr David Fang a director of the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association said “Coal suppliers may sell the fuel to consumers willing to buy at much higher prices. This would worsen the coal shortage.''

According to the report, aggravating the shortfall China has been shutting thousands of small and unsafe mines in Shanxi and other areas. China generates almost 80% of its power from coal, with the Northern Province its biggest producing region.

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission said Shanxi which has issued a red' alert, will resolutely limit power supplies to energy intensive and polluting factories. Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, the nation's biggest producer of the metal halted output at a venture in the province because of power shortages. A manager at the Shanxi Huaze Aluminum & Power Co venture said Shanxi ordered smelters to cut output to ensure power supply for farming.

Shenzhen Zhongjin extends offer for Herald Resources

It is reported that Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co, China's fourth biggest zinc producer by output is extending its offer for Herald Resources Ltd, an Australian mining company to July 15th from July 8th.

Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co in a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange said that, the company also urged Herald shareholders to temporarily reject the AUD 2.85 per share rival offer from PT Bumi Resources and wait for a further announcement from southern China based company.

According to the report, Herald directors on July 3rd recommended a sweetened AUD 563 million bid from Bumi and withdrew their recommendation for an offer from Shenzhen Zhongjin and its partner PT Aneka Tambang, Indonesia's second largest nickel producer who bid AUD 2.8 for each Herald share.

MTD to build coal terminal in Indonesia

Bloomberg reported that Kuala Lumpur based MTD Capital Bhd, a builder of toll roads from China to Sri Lanka, will spend USD 100 million in the next five years to build and operate a coal terminal in Indonesia's west Java.

The report quoted Mr Yusof Merican head of MTD