There was acceleration in the fall of Indian domestic steel prices in last week. But long products were severely affected, which is reflected in 586 point fall in LPPI during the period. But fall in flat products was nominal. Overall, the Indian Steel Price Index fell by 306 points, as against 201 points in the previous week.

LPPI – Long Product Price Index
FPPI – Flat Product Price Index
ISPI – Indian Steel Price Index



Long products

Flat products

To know more about these indices please visit
http://steelprices-india.com/spi_services/spi.html

Input materials

Iron ore prices remained unchanged at Burwil but sponge iron and scrap prices at some locations went down.

Sponge iron

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Melting scrap
80:20
HMS

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Plate cutting and ship scarp at Alang also went down as under

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Pencil ingot

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Long products

TMT
Fe 415
12mm

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

ANGL
GR A
65x6

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

CHNL
GR A
75/100

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

WRC
SWR14
5.5/6

Change on August 22nd is with respect to prices on August 14th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Flat products

Prices for flat products were somewhat stable except for some locations, where regional availability factors resulted in variances

If you want to know the prevailing prices and changes across the week on daily basis, please subscribe to services of www.steelprices-india.com

ET reported that unfazed by the recent developments in West Bengal over the small car project of the TATAs, JSW Steel on Sunday made it clear that its INR 35,000 crore steel project in Shalboni was on schedule and construction work for the plant would start in November.

Mr Sajjan Jindal vice C MD of JSW Steels said that "Our steel project in West Bengal is on schedule and we will commence construction work of the project from November this year.”

Mr Jindal however said if the Tatas pull out of the small car project from Singur it would send a wrong signal to the industry as a whole but at the same time, expressed hope that project would take off at Singur.

JSW Steel is setting up a 10 million tonne integrated steel plant at Shalboni in West Bengal. The company has already acquired 4,800 acre land. JSW Steel expects to commission an 8 million tonne per annum iron ore beneficiation unit and six million tonne per annum pellet plant in West Bengal by 2012 before the steel production starts.

Scrap

With the crash of global scarp levels, offers are coming at lower levels and are reported in a wide range of USD 450 to USD 600 per tonne form different sources for various origins. Thus the market is not clear. However most of the market sources have informed of offers at USD 500 to USD 520 CNF India.

Scrap
Various
USD 500- USD 520
CNF Mumbai

HRC – Structural grade

As indicated earlier that imports would start, structural grade HRC imports are picking up and several transactions have been reported this week for Chinese origin cargos, including stock lots.

As per market reports, one stock lot parcel of 20,000 tonnes was booked by a large buyer at USD 980 CNF levels earlier and recently a 2,000 tonnes stock lot parcel was concluded at USD 960 levels and for a 800 MT parcel at USD 955 per tonne on CNF level.

Traders are expecting that Indian steel majors would at least maintain their price line. As Chinese mills are very aggressive, Indian traders are moving fast for prompt cargos and some of them are reported to have rushed to China to secure prompt parcels. It is reported that now some negotiations are going on at USD 930 to USD 940 CNF levels

But with the negative sentiment, overseas mills may accept even lower firm bids in the coming weak.

China
USD 940-USD 960
CNF Mumbai

HRC for cold rolling

The offer levels of traditional Russian suppliers are not available. But it is reported that South East Asian mills are making aggressive offers to Indian cold rollers in the range of USD 1030 to USD 1050. It is also reported that stock lot are being offered at USD 965 levels.

De to the dip in international levels, most of the buyers have postponed their buying and as result most of the Indian Galvanizers are running on a very thin order book. As a result, they are reported to have reduced their production, which has in turn reduced their requirement of HRC.

But some transactions are expected to be concluded at levels less that USD 1000 soon for prime rolling.

South East Asia
USD 1000-USD 1040
CNF Kandla

SteelPrices-India has started this update on import levels this week on request from many its subscribers. We shall be adding more products in coming week. To get such updates from next week, please subscribe to the daily domestic benchmark product services of www.steelprices-india.com.

IRON ORE

The situation of iron ore has been effected very badly as Chinese mills are hardly buying at present. It is reported that the movement of iron ore fines from mines in Burwil area to ports has reduced a lot.

Only big miners and exporters who have commitment to Indian Railways for certain volumes under Wagon Investment Scheme are moving iron ore fines to the ports and stock piling. The road transportation of iron ore to ports for exports has been reduced to a great extant. Smaller exporters are reported to have withdrawn from buying from mines.

As a result, the availability for domestic consumption has increased and it is likely that domestic iron ore prices may go down on September 1st 2008, if not before.

Few shipments by big iron ore miners and exporters have been reported last week at levels close to USD 130 per tonne FOB Paradip, against old contract.

Indian exporters are reported to be holding to following levels
1. 63% Fe – USD 130 FOB Paradip
2. 60% to 62% Fe – USD 110 to USD 115 per tonne FOB Paradip
Haldia is reported to be about USD 7 per tonne lesser


PIG IRON

It is reported that Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited received only one offer against their bid invitation for export of pig iron last week and have decided to go for re tendering the cargo.

As per information received RINL received lone bid at USD 740.03 per tonne on FOB basis from Stemcor.

As per information available with us, RINL had got USD 835 per tonne on FOB basis for July shipment and USD 808 per tonne on FOB for June shipment earlier, which they did not clear.

HDG

It is reported that most of the Indian galvanizer’s order books are very thin and they are finding it difficult to replenish them among the current situation.

Due to dip in prices offered by Chinese, Ukrainian and Russian mills, buyers the market sentiment is very week, As a result most of the buyers are postponing their purchases.

Thus the pricing situation is a bit confused and mills are eager to have firm bids at any price levels.

It is also reported that some overseas buyers have started asking for renegotiations.

The reported offers and firm bid levels are as under

Offers for commercial quality HDG in 0.40-0.45mm were touching USD 1400 per tonne FOB, but buyers came back with firm bids which were less than USD 1300 per tonne FOB. Few orders have been reported to be booked in EU in the range of USD 1330 per tonne to USD 1350 per tonne FOB levels.

PPGI

Offers for PPGI in 0.40 mm were hovering around USD 1550 per tonne to USD 1560 per tonne on FOB basis but firm bids from overseas buyers were very low at USD 1470 per tonne to USD 1480 per tonne FOB levels due to weak demand from EU. As per information received, few small orders have been booked in the range of USD 1500 per tonne to USD 1510 per tonne FOB levels.

SteelPrices-India has started this update on export levels this week on request from many its subscribers. We shall be adding more products in coming week. To get such updates from next week, please subscribe to the daily domestic benchmark product services of www.steelprices-india.com.

ET reported that with the entry of global third party logistics players is fast changing the model of logistics model in the country to more of a strategic function and Indian warehousing sector is poised to become USD 55 billion by 2010-11 with around 45 million square feet warehousing space expected to be developed in the country in next five years supplemented by around 110 logistics parks.

According to a report by real estate consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield, warehousing activities account for about 20% of the total Indian logistics industry and offer tremendous growth potential.

The report pointed out that this segment of the logistics industry is estimated to grow from USD 20 billion in 2007-08 to about USD 55 billion by 2010-11, growing at the rate of 35% to 40% every year.

The report stated that "Changing business dynamics and the entry of global third party logistics players has led to the re modelling of the logistics services in India. From a mere combination of transportation and storage services, logistics is fast emerging as a strategic function that involves end-to-end solutions that improve efficiencies.”

The report added that around 45 million square feet warehousing space is expected to be developed by various logistics companies which would further boost real estate activities in key locations across the country.

One can have an idea about the importance of the construction industry in India from the fact that it is the second largest contributor to the GDP after agriculture. The industry provides employment to more than 3% of the population. Its market size is around USD 55 billion and is growing at around 7% to 8% per annually, faster than the GDP growth. As the Construction sector is growing faster than the country’s project GDP growth, there exist a tremendous potential for development in the related area.

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The Financial Express reported that the India government said that it is hopeful of containing inflation under the 13% mark as wheat and rice stock position was comfortable and prices of some food items are coming down.

Mr GK Pillai Union Commerce Secretary on the sidelines of a seminar told reporters that "I do not think that inflation will cross the 13% mark. We are hopeful that actual inflation will start coming down."

Mr Pillai said that "Prices of quite a number of food items have come down the international prices of maize have declined considerably." He added that pulses imports have started coming in and the Government had started a scheme of providing both pulses and edible oil at a subsidized rate.

He said that "We are giving a subsidy of INR 10 per kilogram to Below Poverty Line families." He said that the cabinet committee on prices met yesterday and will be meeting again next week to take a stock of the situation. He further added that the committee of secretaries is meeting regularly on the issue.

Amidst the currently prevailing volatile and speculative steel price scenario in India, SteelGuru.com has started the much needed barometer to track and measure the price movements on daily basis.

Steel prices being an issue at the forefront in the context of inflation, drawing significant government attention, making up for about 4 per cent in the Wholesale Price Index(WPI), has been media's most favorite and hot topic at the moment. Unfortunately, the facts are misrepresented very often due to complexity in the structure and the dynamics of the steel market, leaving the users of the information mostly in a state of confusion.

In order to provide an index for steel prices, we call it SENSEX for steel, SteelGuru.com decided to work on both long products and flat products for respective category indices as also a composite one for steel. We call them LPPI, FPPI and SPI and have started releasing these indices with effect from July 1st 2008, after taking June 30th 2008 as base.

LPPI is based on daily market prices of three benchmark products rebars, wire rod and sections in 4 metros, whereas FPPI is based on HRC, plates, CR and HDG. These indices have been built considering their respective weights in the composite categories as also in the shares of sales in the regional markets.

The pricing input is from www.steelprices-india.com, which publishes market transaction prices of benchmark products among select locations 5 days a week.

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According to an ASSOCHAM Placement Pattern Study, in wake of the huge private and government investments lined up in the infrastructure projects in the economy, the pace of employment generation in the sector has risen significantly as evident from a share of 12% in the total employment opportunities generated in the first 3 months of the fiscal.

The APP Study “Job trends in infrastructure sector” has also revealed that the infrastructure sector comprising Aviation, Construction, Energy, Core infrastructure and Metals & Mining have jointly contributed a significant share of 12% to the job vacancies posted in first quarter of this fiscal.

The construction segment had the maximum share of 24.32% in the total employment generation in the infrastructure sector. The number of job openings in the segment remained buoyant on account of a rise in the construction activities of different projects running under progress.

With metal prices going high in the recent times, the mining activities have gone up at an increased pace. The segment had the second largest share in the infrastructure sector job openings with a total of 3047 newly created jobs.

Energy, one of the key drivers of the infrastructure sector had a share of 18.80 % with the number of job openings in the segment totaling to 2365. The scope of a healthy increase in the contribution of the segment towards the total job opportunities in the overall infrastructure sector remains robust as the sector seems to be one of the thrust areas for India Inc with huge investments lined up in the near future.

Mr Sajjan Jindal President of ASSOCHAM said that “Removing the infrastructure bottlenecks is seen as a good business opportunity by the private players. The sector is emerging as a potential employment generator with its share set to leap further.”

The Study comprised of a sample size of total 105,638 jobs generated, spreading over 55 cities categorized in 3 Tiers according to the size, population and other demographic characteristics. The infrastructure sector created a massive 12580 job opportunities out of the total sample size between April to June 2008. The sample was based on the vacancies posted in the national and regional dailies, journals and job portals like “timesjobs.com” and “naukri.com”.

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BL reported that container train operators are taking a hit on their domestic traffic segment following the 16% to 17% increase in rail haulage charges imposed by Indian Railways since August 1st.

An official from the Association of Container Train Operators said that “While we are able to pass on some level of hike in the export & import traffic segment in the domestic segment we are facing significant resistance. He added that domestic segment is a new segment that we are building up by taking traffic away from the road transporters. Most domestic transportation contracts have a 1 year window with limited scope for cost escalation.”

The report further added that ACTO has already taken up the issue with the Railway Ministry and has had 3 rounds of meetings.

As per report, Indian Railways has imposed haulage charges on container train operators for allowing them to use Railways infrastructure such as tracks, signalling systems and locomotives. Railways increased these charges by about 15% to 16% for containers over the 20 tonne category and for distances of over 1,000 kilometers.

The report added that this hike in the heavy weight, long distance transportation category appears to have been driven by the Indian Railways’ fears of losing its own traffic. The domestic container train segment primarily serves heavy cargo such as sponge iron, pig iron, de oiled cake, stone chips, soap stone, non programmed food grains and non programmed fertilizer, etc. these are commodities which Railways also loads and moves in its wagons. Indian Railways carries around 800 million tonnes of traffic annually out of which 200 million tonnes can be containerized. All the container train operators together carry a domestic load of some 8.5 million tonnes to 9.5 million tonnes annually.

Apart from Container Corporation of India Limited companies that have started container trains include Gateway Distriparks through its subsidiary Gateway Rail, Innovative B2B Logistics, Boxtrans Logistics, Hind Terminals, Adani Logistics, APL, CWC and ETA.

It is reported that Automobile giant General Motors is expected to sign an MoU with Maharashtra government to set up a power train manufacturing facility near its Talegaon plant in Pune. The INR 1,200 crore unit will manufacture engines and gear boxes with a capacity of 200,000 units per year.

Meanwhile, GM is scheduled to begin commercial operations at its new car manufacturing facility at Talegaon in September. Set up with an investment of INR 1,400 crore the plant will manufacture 140,000 small cars including Chevrolet Spark. Trial production began in March this year.

Work on Talegaon plant began in late 2006 following a MoU signed with Maharashtra government in August that year. The Talegaon project is one of the largest Greenfield investments Maharashtra has attracted in recent history.

As per the report, once Talegaon facility goes fully commercial, GM, which began Indian operations in 1996 will have a total capacity of 225,000 cars per year. GM's only other manufacturing unit at Halol in Gujarat recently underwent an expansion in capacity from 65,000 cars to 85,000 cars per year.

ET reported that Pune based boiler and absorption chiller manufacturer Thermax Ltd has decided to set up a new INR 500 crore manufacturing plant for large boilers of capacity 100 MW to 800 MW for power plants.

Mr MS Unnikrishnan MD of Thermax said that "We have signed a technical agreement with US-based Babcock & Wilcox Co for making sub critical boilers in India of minimum size that would produce 100 MW and up to 800 MW of power from each unit.”

He said that the company has not yet finalized the location of the plant, but indicated it would be either in the west or north India. He said that "We are getting proposals from various state governments and we are finalizing the location."

He added that the new plant would be run by Thermax and not by its joint venture subsidiary in India with the same US collaborator.

In the first phase, the company would have a capacity to produce sub critical boilers with total capacity of 1,500 MW per annum, which would entail an investment of INR 300 crore. Mr Unnikrishnan said that "In the next phase we will scale up the capacity of the boilers of equivalent to 3,000 MW with an additional investment of INR 200 crore.”

PTI reported cement manufacturer JK Lakshmi is embarking on an expansion plan to set up five ready mix concrete plants, which could entail an investment of up to INR 1,000 crore by the end of this fiscal.

Ms Vinita Singhania MD of Lakshmi Cement told PTI that "By March 2009, we will set up 4 to 5 RMC plants in four different locations to add value to our RMC business. With the growing demand of cement in the realty space in the country, we see a good future for RMC plants.”

She, however, declined to comment on the production capacities and the possible locations of the plant. She said that "We are targeting to set up 6 to 7 RMC plants per year as our existing facilities are undergoing optimum capacity utilization.”

On the size of the investment, she said the cost of setting up one RMC plant is between INR 140 crore and INR 200 crore. She added that "The company will fund the cost of expansion through internal accruals.”

It is reported that TATA BP Solar, a JV between TATA Power and BP Solar, will expand capacity to 300 MW and has set a target to become a billion dollar company by 2012.

Mr Amit Kumar TATA BP Solar North India Head told reporters that "We are hoping to become a one billion dollar company by 2012 and the installed capacity of the company would reach 300 MW by the year 2012.”

TATA BP Solar has already invested INR 400 crore in the current financial year for manufacturing 180 MW of solar cells and 125 MW of solar modules.

TATA BP Solar provides services to the Defense forces, North Eastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, educational institutions like IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore and has also electrified 20 villages in Orissa. It has also signed a MoU with TATA Agrico for distributing solar products targeting consumers who are deprived of electricity in the rural areas of the country.

TATA BP Solar is currently harnessing the potential of solar energy for providing telecom infrastructure in Bhutan. It is also supplying solar power equipment to Afghanistan, Pakistan etc and export products to countries in Western Europe and the US. The company's clientele includes corporate such ONGC, Indian Oil Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp.

Eden Energy Limited recently announces a major boost from one of India’s largest private development corporations for Eden’s green fuel, gas and geothermal projects in India, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Under a 2 tiered strategy announced with Mumbai based Zoom Developers Private Limited
1. Zoom will provide Eden with short term working capital of AUD 5 million via a convertible note loan.
2. Both parties have signed a conditional Letter of Intent providing for Zoom to enter into a series of joint development agreements across various Eden projects.
3. These projects cover Eden’s Indian based hydrogen and Hythane® project, coal seam methane and gas projects in England and Wales, and natural gas and geothermal projects in Australia.
4. It is anticipated that it will take approximately 2 to 3 months to negotiate the joint development agreements and for Zoom to conclude its necessary due diligence.

Mr Greg Solomon executive chairman of Eden said that “The immediate cash injection coupled with Zoom’s interest in joint project involvement will provide both an immediate financial boost plus broad operational and technical support to our green energy drive across three continents.”

Mr Solomon said that “Quite apart from Zoom, we are now attracting growing attention from world class energy, infrastructure and engineering majors in many parts of the world. Increasing global political, consumer and regulatory pressures arising out of climate change concerns are driving many governments as well as national and multinational companies to look for viable technologies which can provide early climate and emissions solutions.”

He further added that “This push will help accelerate the pace at which Eden’s technologies and projects are able to be rolled out. We believe Zoom will be a strong, strategic partner with its broad affiliations, particularly in India, where Eden is focusing its efforts to market Hythane® as an ultra low emission, high efficiency fuel.”

It is reported that National Thermal Power Corporation last week said that it will stay away from the ongoing Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources case in the Bombay High Court over the supply of KG Basin gas.

A senior legal advisor to NTPC said that "The central government counsel has commented on a case whose merits he is unaware of. We will not be part of any matter that does not concern us.”

Mr R S Sharma chairman & MD of NTPC said that "We will take appropriate action to keep our right totally intact. We are not sitting on the case. This is a commercial contract and its sanctity has to be maintained.” When asked about his company's response to the government lawyer's statement in the Bombay High Court. He refused to divulge further details.

Mr TS Doabia central government counsel said that NTPC does not have a concluded contract with RIL.

NTPC had invited bids in October 2002 and RIL had emerged as the sole successful bidder for the supply of natural gas to these projects. RIL had won the right to supply 12 million metric standard cubic metres per day of gas to NTPC's power projects in Gujarat at a price of $2.34 per million metric British thermal unit. RIL had quoted the lowest price in the bidding process in 2004 and was subsequently issued a LoI. NTPC went to court in 2005 after RIL did not sign the gas sale and purchase agreement because of a dispute over a clause related to unlimited liability.

NTPC and RIL are engaged in a separate legal battle since December 2005 over RIL's claim that it has only signed a Letter of Intent with NTPC and does not have a concluded contract with the power company. NTPC, on its part, maintained that it has a concluded contract with RIL for the supply of natural gas to its Kawas and Gandhar power stations in Gujarat.

The RIL-RNRL gas sales agreement was drafted on the lines of the NTPC-RIL gas sales agreement. The verdict on the RIL-NTPC case is important as the gas agreement signed between RIL and RNRL, which is also being disputed in the High Court, enabled the Anil Ambani controlled RNRL to get 12 mms cmd of additional gas if the contract between RIL and NTPC fails. This would entitle RNRL to have 40 mms cmd of gas at a price of USD 2.34 per mmbtu.

Jiji Press reported that major Japanese steelmakers are considering joining forces to purchase overseas iron ore mining rights to cope with the raw material's soaring prices. The move is intended to share massive purchasing costs and secure stable supply of iron ore.

The report named following Japanese majors
1. Nippon Steel Corp
2. JFE Steel Corp
3. Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd
4. Kobe Steel Ltd
5. Itochu Corp

The report added that the Japanese government plans to support the effort by having the government affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation offer low interest loans.

To start with, the consortium is considering participating in competitive bidding for Brazilian steelmaker CSN's Namisa iron ore unit. Other mines in Brazil and on the west coast of Africa are being considered as targets.

Cia Siderurgica Nacional SA said that it has not received any formal offers for its Nacional Minerios SA unit, though it may accelerate plans to sell the iron-ore producer because of strong interest from potential buyers.

Ms Flavia Ferreira spokeswoman for CSN said that "It is creating quite a stir. We have not received proposals yet, but there are a load of people interested.''

Mr Juarez Saliba executive director of business development at CSN said that it may complete the sale by late September 2008.

CNN’s Nacional Minerios SA unit or Namisa, as the unit is known, may be worth as much as USD 8.5 billion. Anglo American Plc and ArcelorMittal are among the companies that have made acquisitions in Brazil this year to secure supplies of iron ore after the price of the steel ingredient climbed for a sixth straight year.

It may be noted that CSN is seeking to sell Namisa to help raise cash to expand its larger iron ore unit, Casa de Pedra, which started exporting last year. Namisa aims to sell 40 million metric tons a year of iron ore from its own mines and third parties by 2011.

Platts reported that the flat rolled price hike run by US steel producers appears to have come to an abrupt end.

As per report, following ArcelorMittal USA's move earlier, major and non major mills are pulling back their announced price increases for September 2008 deliveries. Lead times for hot rolled and cold rolled coil are said to be at two to three weeks. Some mills are privately saying their September order books are only one third or one half full.

Several buyers are now reporting that US Steel has backed off by USD 20 to USD 40 per short ton and that the producer is now offering HRC at USD 1,060 to USD 1,080 per short ton ex-works, depending on tonnage.

An ArcelorMittal USA spokesperson said that "We enjoy excellent relationships with our customers. We will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with each of them on pricing given present market conditions."

Meanwhile, there are still reports of other deals down around USD 1,020 to USD 1,040 per short ton ex works from non major suppliers.

VNS citing Vietnam Steel Association reported that steel prices are forecast to fall for the rest of the year as demand slackens in Vietnam’s domestic market.

VSA said July steel output was at a record low 250,000 tonnes and August steel consumption was even lower at an estimated 200,000 tonnes. As per report, steel producers have reported insignificant steel sales in August so far. Vinakyoei Steel Co has sold only 2,000 tonnes of steel in the first 10 days of August.

VSA said that decreasing demand has led to price reductions, the association reported, adding that steel prices will probably decrease in coming months, dropping from the current price of VND17.3 million per tonne, already a 30% decrease on June prices. Steel prices are lowest in the south with prices in the north roughly VND1 million per tonne higher.

Mr Pham Chi Cuong chairman of VSA attributed the reduction in demand and subsequent price drops to decreased construction activity during the rainy season.

Vietnamese producers of steel ingot said they were facing difficulties and inventory stockpiles were growing. While domestic consumption was down, the 20% export duty made exports uncompetitive in the global market, curtailing export activities. Steel ingot producers said they will cease production if the situation continues, as credit concerns would force production cuts.

To help the domestic steel ingot industry, the VSA recommended that the Government cut export tax.

It is reported that Polish stockholder Drozapol Profil is taking over profiles roller and steel distributor Glob Profil and the acquisition of 80% of the company’s shares is well advanced.

The Polish office of competition and consumer protection this week approved the transaction and will take about two weeks for the decision to come into force.

The plan is to invest around PLN 15 million into Glob Profil during 2009 in order to start a new production line and implement other upgrades.

Glob Profil produces roll formed profiles from hot rolled uncoated and galvanized strip. It also trades a variety of steel products and has a service centre.

Drozapol Profil trades in all type of steel products, but its main business is in coil. It runs a service centre in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski.

Enquirer reported that a contracted employee working at AK Steel in Middletown was killed on Sunday morning while changing a tire on a tractor trailer.

Mr Mike Lewis was employed by AK Steel contractor RMB Enterprises Inc. RMB officials said the tire exploded and he was killed by blunt force trauma to his chest.

Middletown police is investigating the accident.

RMB provides trucking and maintenance services at the Middletown plant, with 154 employees there. Mr Jeff Beck GM RMB at the AK Steel plant said that RMB employees carry rolled steel and other products within the mill.

CONTENT

Topics
1. Indian steel: an introduction to its structure and growth
2. Capacity: crude and finished steel: growth trends by major producers and segments.
3. Production trend analysis, crude and finished steel, for major producers and segments.
4. Consumption trends by products and in different regional markets.
5. Detailed status of the steel market in India, by products and with specific details such as size and shapes for HR Coils, CR Coils and Sheets, Galvanized sheets, Rebars, Sections, Wire Rods and Plates.
5. New investments in steel: latest status of the projects.
6. Expected production of steel year wise till 2015, by products. Different scenarios.
7. Latest forecasts of annual steel demand by products till 2020.
8. The alloy and stainless steel market: trends in investment, production, consumption.
9. Forecast of alloy and stainless steel demand till 2020.
10. Specific opportunities in alloy and stainless steel.
11. Steel price trends and short term forecasts.
12. Costs of production of steel in India: past trends and forecasts.
13. The iron ore factor in Indian steel. Advantages and opportunities.
14. Details of captive mines with Indian steel producers and new prospecting and mining leases granted to them.
15. Coal and energy issues for the Indian steel industry: how is the industry placed today?
16. What is the impact of the rise in raw materials prices on major Indian companies or segments of the industry?
17. How are the merchant pig iron and sponge iron producers shaping up?
18. What is the steel scrap scenario? Estimates of domestically generated scrap and imports.
19. What are the M&A opportunities in Indian steel?
20. India’s external trade in pig iron, sponge iron, steel, iron ore and coal. What is the future for each of them?
21. Strategic Options and Recommendations

190 pages with more than 70 charts and tables

Scheduled for release on 1st September 2008

Price on release: USD 5000 or equivalent in INR

You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com

The Canadian Press reported that US Steel Canada is apologetic about its blast furnace belching smoke and coke dust into the air over Hamilton four times in little more than a month.

The first incident July 11th 2008 dropped black dust on ice cream in people's hands along the west harbor shore. Another ugly cloud drifted over Ivor Wynne Stadium during a Tiger Cats home game. The latest left a trail of gritty dust, scant hours before US Steel Canada president Mr Doug Matthews hosted a reception at the Art Gallery of Hamilton to introduce company officials to community leaders.

Mr Trevor Harris spokesman of US Steel Canada said that the multinational steelmaker that took over Stelco last fall is calling on in house experts around the world to help local staff and the Ontario Environment Ministry determine what went wrong and how to stop it happening.

He added that "One of the great benefits of being US Steel Canada is that we now have access to expertise from literally around the world to try to rectify the problem."

Mr Matthews made it clear that the company takes environmental issues seriously and is not happy with the situation. He said "We do not want to leave the impression we're in any way lackadaisical about it. We are going to great lengths to solve the problem, to demonstrate we want to be good neighbors."

A blast furnace uses coke and high heat to turn iron ore into molten iron, which is then refined into steel. In each of the four recent incidents, a shift of the furnace contents, called a slip, created a sudden pressure buildup, opening a safety valve that vented hot gas and coke particles into the air.

It is reported that Polish Ministry of State Treasury has completed acceptance of applications to negotiate the sale of 81.67% stake in the sections producer Huta Labedy. The deal is to have been finalized by the end of the year. It will involve the sale of 7.95 million individual shares.

As per report, five applications from Polish companies were received.
1. ArcelorMittal Poland
2. KEM
3. HW Pietrzak Holding
4. Amber Sp zoo
5. Opal Sp Zoo

After preliminary examination of submitted documents only ArcelorMittal Poland and KEM have been qualified for further negotiations, which are scheduled for October.

Huta Labedy was nationalized in 2005. It currently operates a 250,000 tonnes per year structural steel mill, producing 120mm to 160mm INP beams and 100mm to 180mm channel. Square billet for the operations is sourced from local producers, in particular, Celsa Huta Ostrowiec, CMC Zawiercie and ArcelorMittal Warszawa.

According to Belgian trade statistics, ferrous scrap exports out of Belgium totaled 2,955,000 tonnes in 2007, down by 1.3% YoY.

In the breakdown by main destinations

1. Turkey took the largest quantity of 898,000 tonnes or 30.4% of the total, up by 32.3% YoY.

2. Luxembourg ranked second at 562,000 tonnes or 19%, up by 10.2% YoY

3. France third at 553,000 tonnes or 18.7%, down by 36.6% YoY

4. Egypt fourth at 295,000 tons or 10%, down by 2.9% YoY

5. Netherlands fifth at 208,000 tonnes or 7%, up by 5.4% YoY.

It is reported that Greek Promitheftiki Metallon SA will launch a new warehouse covering around 5,500 square meters. Including surrounding grounds, the site will measure at total of 27,000 square meters. Steel holding capacity is still undefined.

The new centre, which has been under construction for the past two and a half years, will include a cut to length line for 0.7mm to 4mm coil, a slitting line for 0.5mm to 3mm coil, a shot blasting machine, 6 roll forming lines and a sawing unit for beams.

The total amount invested in the new centre was EUR 5 million for the building and equipment and EUR 350,000 for the acquisition of the land.

Meanwhile, another new service centre which could start to increase its share in the Greek market is Moraitidis SA. This centre imports and supplies iron and steel products and specializes in seamless steel tubes.