ET reported that the board of Steel Authority of India Limited has approved Rourkela Steel Plant’s second stage of modernization and expansion plan worth INR 5,000 crore. The projects are likely to be completed by 2011.

The plan envisages following expansions

1. Hot metal - 2 million tonne per annum to 4.5 million tonne per annum

2. Crude steel - 1.9 million tonne per annum to 4.2 million tonne per annum

3. Saleable steel - 1.67 million tonne per annum to 3.9 million tonne per annum

The plan includes setting up the country’s largest blast furnace at the plant. The new blast furnace, which will have a capacity of producing some 4,060 cubic meters of hot metal, will be constructed by TATA Projects in association with Danieli-Corus.

The plan includes setting up a new sinter plant, 7 meter coke oven battery with 67 ovens and augmentation of ore bedding & blending with a new unloading station.

ET report cited a RSP source as saying that “The SAIL board is also slated to clear an additional INR 7,000 crore package for setting up the plant’s other downstream facilities within this month. The facilities would include a new LD converter, a new slab caster, LHF and a wide plate mill of 1.8 million tonnes per annum capacity.”

JSW Steel Limited has placed an order with SMS Demag for the extension of the steelworks and for the supply of two X-Cast continuous casters. The commissioning of the phase 2 plant and equipment is scheduled for the middle of 2009.

The supply scope for the X-Melt steelworks with two 175 tonnes BOF converters comprises the lamella suspension system developed by SMS Demag, converter tilt drives, blowing lance system, bottom stirring equipment, slag retention systems and materials management. Also contained in the scope is the primary dust collection system, including the gas switch over station and the gas tank with a volume of 50,000 cubic meters. The recovered converter gas is able to replace up to 80 million cubic meters of natural gas each year. Both the energy costs and the output of CO2 are thereby reduced considerably.

The supply also includes two single strand slab casters with a total production capacity of 3.6 million tonne per year. At a maximum casting speed of 1.85 meters per minute, the casters produce slabs in gages of 220mm, 260mm or 300 mm and in widths between 1,000mm and 2,200 mm. The equipment of the caster includes several Intelligent Slab Casting modules which determine quality and production. Among these are the hydraulically driven resonance oscillation system, remote controlled mold narrow faces for width change during casting and the position-controlled CYBERLINK segments for performing Dynamic Soft Reduction.

The supply scope further contains the X-Pact® electrical system and automation package, erection supervision, training of the operating personnel and commissioning.

JSW Steel already operates a steelworks and two continuous casters supplied by SMS Demag.

It is reported that Steel Authority of India Limited’s Rourkela Steel Plant has registered an impressive capacity utilization creating best ever production in the month o f July since inception.

Volume in million tonnes
CU – capacity utilization

During April-July 2008, the steel plant achieved output levels of 0.739 million tonnes of hot metal 0.694 million tonnes of crude steel, 0.623 million tonnes of saleable steel and dispatch of 0.643 million tonnes of finished products which were not only the best ever for any April to July since inception of the steel plant but also represent impressive growth of 6.3% YoY, 8.8% YoY, 7.5% YoY and 8.4% YoY.

Melting scrap
80:20
HMS

Including ED and VAT
Delivery FOT

To know more about prevailing domestic steel prices, please visit www.steelprices-india.com

It is reported that TATA Group’s Tayo Rolls has entered into a license agreement with its Japanese promoter, Yodogawa Steel Works, for transfer of technology for manufacturing of steel rolls.

Under the agreement, Yodogawa would impart training to Tayo's engineers in India and Japan for faster absorption of the technology, the company.

Tayo release said that “The agreement would enable Tayo to be the first in India to manufacture Hi speed and semi high speed steel rolls, which have replaced high chrome iron and high chrome steel rolls respectively, for their performance and technical characteristics.”

Tayo is already executing its forged rolls and forging project with technical collaboration with Sheffield Forgemasters, which is likely to be commissioned in January 2009.

TMT
Fe 415
12mm

Including ED and VAT
Delivery FOT

To know more about prevailing domestic steel prices, please visit www.steelprices-india.com

Mr Ratan Tata chairman of TATA Group said that the economic downturn in the US is likely to eventually affect India.

Mr Tata, while replying to questions at the 69th Annual General Meeting of Tata Chemicals in Mumbai, said that "The economic downturn in the US is noticeable and I do not think India will be immune from that downturn. The economic downturn in US is hitting Europe and will eventually affect us here.”

It is reported that JSW Steel has successfully commissioned a SMS Demag supplied secondary dust collection system for a BOF steelworks.

With an extraction capacity of 1.6 million cubic meters per hour, the system captures all of the diffuse dust emissions from the BOF Steelworks No 1 at JSW Steel. The dust laden air is then efficiently cleaned in a powerful filter house with the aid of fabric bag filters.

The works, supplied by SMS Demag, at the Toranagallu location in the Indian federal state of Karnataka possesses three 150 tonne converters, a primary dust collection system and a converter gas recovery system.

PLTS
GRB
12-20x2.5

Including ED and VAT
Delivery FOT

To know more about prevailing domestic steel prices, please visit www.steelprices-india.com

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, 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.

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

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• 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

With reference to the earlier announcement dated on September 19th 2007, regarding taking over the management of The Kolhapur Steel Ltd, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd has now informed BSE that in accordance with the orders passed by the Honourable Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on May 14th 2008

1. The unsecured loan of the existing promoters was converted by allotment of equity shares of TKSL.

2. Further, funds infused by Kirloskar Brothers Ltd for revival of TKSL, have been appropriated by allotment of equity shares of TKSL to Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, the new promoter.

3. KBL has acquired all the Equity shares of INR 10 each of The Kolhapur Steel Ltd from the existing promoters by executing a Share Purchase agreement on August 2nd 2008 and as per the said orders passed by BIFR.

4. The share capital of TKSL has been reduced by reducing the nominal value of equity shares from INR 10 to INR 1 each.

As a result, KBL holds 95.95% equity shares of paid up capital of The Kolhapur Steel Ltd and TKSL has become a subsidiary Company of KBL with effect from August 2nd 2008.

'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.

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 auto part makers, this directory will save you time and effort in finding the information you need.

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

The Hindu cited Mr Manoj Agarwal MD of Adhunik group as outlining its expansion plans as under

1. Two waste heat recovery boilers to generate 30 MW power out of waste gases, which will save around 11000 tonnes of coal per month.

2. It would also add two kilns of 350 tonne per day each by next May, which will double their steel making capacity from 200,000 tonnes per annum to 400,000 tonnes per annum

3. 2x15 MW power project was under construction at Kandra and likely to be synchronized by end of March next year.

4. It will be adding 2x20 ton induction furnace along with billet caster and ladle redefining furnace

It is reported that Indian government has conferred Navratna status on Shipping Corporation of India Limited making it the 17th member of the elite Navratna club.

The proposal for conferring Navratna status for Shipping Corporation of India Limited was considered by the Government. After considering all relevant factors and parameters, the Government has conferred Navratna status on the company

Navratna status would enable Shipping Corporation of India to utilize the enhanced autonomy and powers delegated available to its Board and thereby improve its performance further.

It may be recalled that the Government had initiated Navratna scheme in 1997 to identify and support select Central Public Sector Enterprises which could emerge as significant players in the economic development of the country as global giants. The Boards of Navratna CPSEs have been delegated substantial powers in the areas relating to capital expenditure, formation of joint ventures & subsidiaries, human resources development, etc.

ET reported that TATA Steel has seen an exceptionally high interest outgo in the recently announced fiscal first quarter, due to loans taken for acquiring Corus but it has no immediate plans for further borrowing.

Mr Koushik Chatterjee CFO of TATA Steel said that “The interest charges are higher as the full year effect for financing for the Corus acquisition is now on Tata Steel’s books. TATA Steel’s interest expenses in the April to June quarter totaled INR 241.7 crore, a five fold rise as compared to INR 41.6 crore in the same quarter last year.”

Mr Chatterjee said Tata Steel would have had much steeper liabilities had the company not swapped its USD 1.65 billion external commercial borrowing into rupee loans. He said “Effectively, the actual liability of the company has been contained by as much as INR 1,000 crore.”

The Hindu reported that Adhunik Thermal and Power Limited a unit of Adhunik Group in the power and steel sectors, will invest INR 4500 crore to set up a 1000 MW power plant at Kandra in Saraikela Kharswan district of Jharkhand.

Mr Manoj Agarwal MD of Adhunik group said that the 1000 MW thermal power plant will come up in two phases and the company has already placed order for 2x135 MW unit to be set up in the company premises.

He said that the company has been allotted coal mines jointly with TATA steel and the environmental clearances and land acquisition process are in progress.

It is reported that Areva T&D India is planning INR 500 crore CAPEX by March 2009 for rapidly expanding power transmission and distribution sector.

The report added that it will further invest another INR 200 crore in the next financial year

In next three years, the company plans to increase its market share by another 20% from the current 15% and also enhancing the market share in products such as circuit breakers and voltage transformers.

It is reported that Thermax received an order of INR 415 crore for setting up a captive power plant for a blast furnace complex on an EPC basis from a leading steel maker

The captive power plant will use the waste gas from the furnace to produce power. This order is a part of the 4.2 million tonne per annum steel capacity expansion of the customer.

Thermax's scope includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of captive power plant with blast furnace gas fired boilers, steam turbine generators and balance of plant.

It is reported that Bharat Heavy Electricals bagged a contract worth INR 200 crore from Government of Vietnam for Nam Chien hydro power project in the Muong La district in the Son La province of Vietnam.

The scope of work involves design, engineering, manufacture, supply and supervision of installation and commissioning of the complete electro-mechanical equipment package for the hydro power project comprising two Pelton type hydro generating units of 100 MW each. The major equipment to be supplied for the project includes hydro turbines, generators, transformers, controls, monitoring and protection system and switchgear.

The project is slated for completion by the end of 2010.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited announced that Mr K Vidyasagar has assumed charge as Chief Vigilance Officer of RINL on 4th August, 2008.

He is an Indian Administrative Service Officer of Jharkhand cadre 1985batch. Prior to this, he was ED of Rural Electrification Corporation Limited New Delhi.

Action Construction Equipment Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has signed a MoU with a Chinese Company for acquisition of same.

It said that “Other details will be apprised soon after the finalization of deal.”

Mundra Port has achieved yet another milestone by successfully berthing, for the first time, a Capesize vessel, MV Badri Prasad at Berth No 5 of Terminal 2. This was the first Capesize vessel berthed at the Port’s Terminal 2.

The vessel, under the agency of Ashit Shipping Services Pvt Ltd was carrying iron ore from Visakhapatnam.

The release emphasized that Mundra Port is confident of handling even bigger vessels in the coming days.

Project Today reported that Sikkim government has decided to review its decision to scrap 11 hydel projects in a bid to modify the private developers one of whom has moved the Sikkim High Court challenging termination of its project in East district.

It is learnt that the state government had been rattled by the private developers' threat to take the matter of termination of the projects to the court for adjudication and so decided to return the scrapped projects to the individual developers for execution.

One of the developers Madhya Bharat Power Corporation Ltd, whose project at Rongnichu in East district was among the projects terminated by the state government in July 2008, has filed a petition in the Sikkim High Court challenging the scrapping of the project.

BL reported that Haldia dock, face an uncertain future as the problem of the poor navigability of the Hooghly River worsens. As per report the depth of the river at Jellingham and Auckland, two key points in the river has dropped to 3.9 meters and four meters respectively. The minimum depth at Jellingham should be five meters and at Auckland, 5.5 meters.

Mr RK Burman secretary of Haldia Dock Officers Forum expressed apprehension that the steadily declining depth would only entail closure of the dock before long. The drop in depth of the river would force the ships to carry lower average parcel load per shipment, entailing higher cost on the part of importers and exporters.

Mr Burman would attribute the present crisis to several factors namely, the delay on the part of the Union Government to clear the River Regulatory Scheme which is designed to improve the navigability of the river and the failure of Dredging Corporation of India to deploy the number of dredgers as contracted for undertaking the required maintenance dredging and capping it all, the apparent lack of awareness of both the State and the Central Governments about the probable fallout of the closure of the Haldia dock and the impact on the country’s economy.

Already, some users, as it was pointed out had started opting for other ports. For example, a private sector steel plant, a major user of Haldia dock for exporting its finished products at the rate of 20,000 tonnes a month on an average, has stopped routing its exports through Haldia and has switched over to some west coast port even as such an exercise involves substantial additional transportation cost.

A private sector producer of coke, so far using Haldia to meet 45% of its requirement of imported coking coal, has cut down on imports through the dock to 40% and stepped up imports through Paradip at higher rail freight.

Some of the public sector steel plants it was pointed out were making more use of Visakhapatnam port vis À vis Haldia in view of the present situation. Several power utilities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, all dependent on Haldia dock for supplies of coal, some by the coastal route, too are worried.

Mr B S Yediyurappa CM of Karnataka laid the foundation stone for Toyota Kirloskar Motor's second car plant at Bidadi near Bangalore. The project will entail an investment of INR 1,400 crore.

The new facility will have a capacity to turn out one lakh vehicles a year and the launch of the plant is expected by 2010.

Project Today reported that a proposal for a new rail route, connecting Warnanagar with Karad covering 55 kilometer and bypassing 155 kilometer between Kolhapur and Karad, has been submitted to the Maharashtra government. IL&FS, on behalf of the Warna Industries presented the report on feasibility of the rail route to the government.

The railway ministry is expected to soon visit the site and carry out the relevant survey, which is expected to be completed by November 2008.

The INR 247 crore rail link will be funded by the development wing of the Union railway ministry and also various institutions in the corporate and co operative sectors in the region. The ministry of railways will contribute INR 123 crore, while the private entities will invest INR 37 crore and another INR 87 crore will come in through bank loans.

This new route will reduce the distance between the two towns by 100 kilometer from the existing 150 kilometer on the current route via Kolhapur-Miraj-Sangli-Karad. After completion of this project, transport cost of sugar and other goods will reduce, which will enable sugar factories to pay better price to the sugarcane farmers.

BS reported that Indian cement majors, which had agreed in May to hold prices for three months to help the government contain inflation, could find it difficult to raise rates when the moratorium ends on August 14th 2008.

Top producers say the current market condition is not buoyant enough to absorb a price hike. This means the cement industry may have to continue absorbing the input cost for a major period of the current quarter.

Mr AL Kapur MD of Ambuja Cements said that "I would want prices to go up, but the market is not ripe enough to absorb any hike. On the contrary, prices could come down as demand dips by 15% to 20% around this time of the year as a result of rains.”

Mr Kapur said his company has recently contracted coal imports at a rate as high as USD 240 a tonne CIF. He said that "Not long ago, I was importing coal at USD 65 a tonne. The bags, used to pack cement, now cost INR 7.5 as against INR 6 a year ago.”

Cement companies saw a cost push of 12% on the input side during the January-March quarter on account of a surge in prices of coal, gypsum, power, freight and so on. However, before they could pass on this entire increase to consumers, the government, desperate to contain inflation, persuaded the industry to hold prices. This was on May 14th 2008. Most companies saw a dip in their profitability during the January to March quarter as they could not raise prices. This trend has continued in the April to June quarter.

While companies may find it difficult to raise prices during the rainy season, the situation is unlikely to improve even after rains as large new capacities are slated to go on stream later this year. This might put a pressure on prices.

ET reported that French carmaker Renault said that it is not considering a tie up with Bajaj Auto in its Chennai manufacturing venture along with Nissan.

Renault India in a statement said that “Contrary to reports in a section of the media today, we wish to state very emphatically, that there have been no talks with Bajaj Auto to partner us in the Chennai project.”

The company, however, said it is in talks with erstwhile partner Mahindra & Mahindra for Chennai facility to facilitate the distribution of Renault cars manufactured at the plant through the M&M distribution network.

Its Chennai facility is a 50:50 JV between Renault and Nissan and is being set up by Renault Nissan Automotive India at an investment of EUR 700 million to produce 400,000 passenger vehicles for both the carmakers.

Construction equipment firm JCB India Ltd announced restructuring of its top management aiming to strengthen its operations, customer service and business development last week.

JCB India in a statement said that it appointed

1. Mr Arjun Mirdha as executive VP of sales and marketing replacing Mr Sandeep Singh

1. Mr Rajesh Khatri as business head of the Pune plant. He has taken over from Mr Alan Thomson

2. Mr Vasu Saksena has been appointed as business head heavy products for Pune unit

3. Mr Subir Chowdhury as business head for Ballabgarh plant

4. Mr Amit Gossain as GM marketing and business development

Mr Vipin Sondhi CEO & MD of JCB India said that “JCB is at a stage of significant expansion and we feel that it's important to improve ways of structuring the organization based on the changing customer needs.”

ArcelorMittal has announced that it plans to construct a new steel mill in Mexico to produce carbon steel and bars including rebar, merchant bar quality and special bar quality products that will principally serve the construction and automotive sectors.

As per report, the facility will be based on electrical steel making equipment with capacity of 1 million of tonnes of billets per year and a new bar rolling mill with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes. This additional production will be directed to the domestic market, mainly to produce high added value steel products but also to support the Government of Mexico’s National Infrastructure Plan and Housing Program.

The commencement of construction will be subject to the receipt of appropriate regulatory approvals by the relevant local authorities.

Mr Gonzalo Urquijo member of ArcelorMittal's group management board with responsibility for long products said that "We are delighted to be making this investment which underlines our commitment to the Mexican steel industry. Our plan calls for an investment of USD 600 million. We are presently evaluating potential sites for the mill in Mexico. The decision concerning the final location will be based upon a number of factors including logistics, supply chain and the availability of sufficient resources to run and operate the plant efficiently and responsibly."

New York Mercantile Exchange Inc, a subsidiary of NYMEX Holdings Inc, has announced it plans to launch, early in the fourth quarter, a futures contract based on market prices for hot rolled steel coil in the US Midwest. It said that the contract will help manage market risk by providing greater transparency and preventing problems associated with speculation.

The steel futures contract will trade on the CME Globex electronic trading platform. Off-exchange transactions can be submitted for clearing via NYMEX ClearPort.

NYMEX said the contract will be financially settled against an index developed by CRU Indices Ltd, a subsidiary of CRU International Ltd, which provides research and information on the steel industry. CRU's price assessments will be based on actual spot transactions. NYMEX added that final settlement on the monthly contract will be the average price calculated for all available prices published for a given month.

NYMEX said the steel contract's size will be 20 short tons, with a minimum price fluctuation of USD 0.50 per short ton. The contract will be listed for 18 consecutive months.

Mr Richard Schaeffer chairman of NYMEX said that "Managing price volatility has become a necessity for everyone involved along the steel supply chain and these contracts will assist the US manufacturing industry in dealing with this issue.”

NYMEX said that “The US domestic steel sheet market includes about 12 major steel mills that produce more than 50 million short tons of sheet steel annually. Hot rolled coil represents nearly 20 million tons of that market, Nymex said.

Financial Times cited Mr LN Mittal CEO of ArcelorMittal as saying that it has had to suspend its plans for taking a majority holding in China Oriental Group Co.

Mr Mittal said that the Chinese government is still not content with the concept of a foreign steelmaker taking control of a leading domestic steel producer. He said that "We may have to accept less than we wanted. If this happens, I will be disappointed. But a stake in the company of 30 per cent or so still is very useful for us.”

As per report, ArcelorMittal may now have to settle for a stake of slightly less than 30% in China Oriental instead of the holding of over 70% it had been hoping for.

Chinese regulators, who did not want a foreign company controlling a leading domestic steelmaker, have failed to approve the deal before a 9 May deadline and the bid has been put on hold. The Chinese ministry of commerce and the state administration for industry and commerce had six months to approve the transaction since December, but the 9 May deadline passed without a ruling.

According to Clarkson Research Studies, the strength of the cape size dry bulk market, driven largely by surging seaborne trade in coal and iron ore, is encouraging owners of single hull very large crude carriers to convert them into iron ore carriers or offshore storage units, rather than sell them for scrap.

Clarkson Research said that owners of single hull tankers are rapidly approaching the 2010 phase out, as mandated under international law, but many of the ships will be under 20 years of age in 2010 and in other circumstances would not be close to the end of their useful lives,. Attracted by the lure of higher freight earnings in the dry bulk sector, some 25 VLCCs have been sent for conversion into ore carriers over the last nine months. A further seven have been converted to offshore, storage structures.

The move may create headaches for owners of dry bulk carriers as more capacity comes on stream, but could bring about relief to coal and iron ore charterers who have endured a relentless upward spiral in freight rates over the last 18 months.

Bloomberg reported that PT Krakatau Steel is planning to double capacity and is ready to compete against overseas rivals that build their own plants in the country.

Mr Fazwar Bujang director of PT Krakatau said that "We are now focusing on plans to build our own plant to double capacity, we don't need to set up a JV with anyone.''

Mr Bujang said that Krakatau planned to spend USD 1.2 billion to double capacity to 5 million tonnes of flats and coil products by 2012. He added that "By the time that a competitor's plant is ready, our capacity already doubles.''

It is reported that, in the wake of slower demand for steel, Taiwan steel mills, including China Steel Corporation, Chung Hung Steel, Sysco and Yieh Phui share a common view, to cut production in order to prevent the price from dropping.

The management of CSC said that basically the steel price could possibly remain firm until the end of 2008. However, if any global large or middle size steel mills tried to dump their steel products because of financial problems, steel price might become unstable.

Therefore, Taiwan steel mills are very cautious in monitoring the global steel situation.

(Sourced from yieh.corp)

Commenting on US Steel's outlook for the third quarter, Mr John Surma chairman & CEO of US Steel said, "We expect another excellent quarter with continued earnings improvement as price increases implemented during the second quarter and early in the third quarter are expected to improve average realized prices for each of our reportable segments."

He said that for Flat rolled, third quarter results are expected to improve substantially from the second quarter, reflecting continued realization of price increases. Raw steel capability utilization and shipments are expected to remain near second quarter levels and raw materials costs are expected to increase.

Third quarter results are expected to decrease for US Steel Europe. While average realized prices should be higher, raw materials costs are also expected to increase, and shipments and operating costs will be negatively affected by a planned blast furnace reline at US Steel Kosice that is scheduled to begin shortly and continue into the fourth quarter.

Third quarter results for Tubular are expected to increase significantly as price increases continue to be realized. Semi finished steel costs will increase and shipments are expected to be at about the second quarter level.

Mr Surma further added that "We are currently negotiating with the United Steelworkers for a replacement of the agreement covering most of our domestic operations. We expect to have the new agreement in place before the September 1st 2008 expiration of the current agreement."

International Monetary Fund said that there is no end in sight to the credit crisis gripping world financial markets, predicting that banks are in for more pain as mortgage defaults soar and economies slow. With revelations still fresh about the extent of exposure for Australian banks NAB and ANZ, the IMF has issued a particularly gloomy assessment of the US economy in its latest global financial stability report.

Mr Jaime Caruana head of the IMF's capital markets division said that global markets are not stable. He added that "Global financial stability remains fragile and systemic risks seem to be returning and that's despite this the important policy measures taken by authorities and also despite the significant adjustment that financial markets have been doing over the past few months."

Nearly a year after the global credit crisis emerged, the IMF says bank write downs associated with the credit crunch now exceed USD 400 billion. It believes this figure could rise to USD 1 trillion and it’s not just the banks the IMF is worried about.

Mr Caruana said that America's housing market is still in free fall. He added that "At the centre of this is the housing market in the United States, very important to stabilize and it is difficult to see at this very moment the bottom of it although there are some signs and some indicators."

'Directory of Electrical Steel Users in India' is one of the top sources of information available on electrical steel users in India. It is one of the most comprehensive and accurate directory of electrical steel users in India.

Published in May 2008, 'Directory of Electrical Steel Users in India' has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to Indian users of electrical steel. This report will be extremely useful to businesses that deal specifically with companies in the electrical steel segment.

This report will enable you to profile electrical steel users 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.

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

This report covers name and product details of 340 of Indian electrical users in Alphabetical order.

Look at the information you'll get in the 'Directory of Electrical Steel Users in India'

• Company name -340 entries
• Address-340 entries
• Phone number-338 entries
• Fax number -317 entries
• Email -300 entries

Report Summary:
1. Published: May 2008
2. Format PDF File (Delivery by Email on receipt of payment)
3. Total no of pages – 190

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

According to a data release by American Institute of Steel Construction Inc, increasing global demand for both structural steel and steel scrap has triggered significant domestic increases in the producer price of structural steel during 2008. During 2008 the mill price for wide flange structural steel has increased by 28% YoY to just over USD 1000 per ton. Other structural materials such as HSS and plate have experienced increases into the USD 1100 to USD 1200 per ton range. This increase is typical of the price volatility that has been experienced by all construction materials since early 2004.

The current increase in the cost of structural steel products can be traced to an expanding global marketplace combined with increased competition for the purchase of steel scrap, iron, coke and metallurgical additives that are used in the production of various types of steel. Scrap index prices have increased from USD 290 per ton in December of 2007 to a current level of USD 555 per ton. The recycled content of wide flange structural steel is nearly 90%, which equates this USD 265 per ton increase directly to the USD 220 increase in the per ton price of structural steel. At the same time domestic structural steel as a result of the weakened US dollar remains USD 20 to USD 40 per ton lower than the global price, which discourages imports.

At the present time, structural steel remains readily available in the US market with service centers holding over 3 months of inventory available for immediate delivery. Direct mill shipments of wide flange shapes continue in the range of 12 to 14 weeks while HSS is available from producers in 4 to 6 weeks.

The transition from a domestically driven market for construction materials to a global market requires significant changes in how construction projects are managed.

New Zealand's steelmaker Pacific Steel Group has announced a price rise by 18% on its rebar and wire rod products effective from September 1st 2008.

According to Pacific Group general manager, price increases are caused from soaring cost of scrap metal and additional factors are higher freight charges, price boost for electrodes, carbon and vanadium and weak NZ dollars.

The new price adjustment is followed by previous 25% rise in May 2008 and 60% increase for the year. Although prices climb dramatically, the demand in New Zealand and Australia continues to exceed supply.

Yonhap reported that South Korean builders clinched record high overseas orders worth USD 34.7 billion in the January to July 2008 period due to increased demand from Middle Eastern and Asian countries.

According to International Contractors Association of Korea, orders from the Middle East jumped by 85% YoY to USD 20.8 billion in the January to July 2008 period, with those from Asian countries soaring by 176% YoY to USD 9.6 billion.

Kuwait was the biggest market for South Korean builders, awarding USD 7.4 billion worth of orders. Qatar ranked second with USD 4.3 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates with USD 3 billion and Saudi Arabia with USD 2.8 billion.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction received the largest overseas orders, worth USD 6 billion, trailed by GS Engineering & Construction Co with USD 4.5 billion and Daelim Industrial Co with USD 3.1 billion. SK Engineering & Construction ranked fourth with USD 2.8 billion and POSCO Engineering & Construction Co posted a combined order of USD 2.6 billion.

In 2007, South Korea's overseas construction orders hit a record high of USD 39.8 billion, propped up by strong demand for industrial plants in the Middle East, which stemmed from soaring oil prices.

JMB reported that Japanese carbon steel export increased by 13% YoY to 13.809 million tonnes in January to June 2008 period. The export increased by 5.3% YoY to 3.028 million tonnes for special steel, by 9.2% YoY to 2.51 million tonnes for semi finished steel and by 7.5% YoY to 362,905 tonnes for processed steel.

The total steel exports, including pig iron and ferroalloy, increased by 11.1% YoY to 20.027 million tonnes.

Dayton Business Journal reported that SunCoke Energy and the city of Middletown have resolved a dispute with Garden Manor Extended Care Center over a proposed coke plant.

AK Steel Corporation announced in March 2008 a 20 year supply contract with SunCoke. Under its terms, SunCoke would build a facility adjacent to AK Steel's Middletown Works that would use a green heat recovery method to produce coke. AK Steel would purchase all of the coke plant's production.

Garden Manor, whose facility is in front of the proposed plant, filed a lawsuit in May 2008 to stop the project. It dropped the suit as part of the agreement, which the Middletown Journal reported was approved Thursday by the Butler County Court of Common Pleas.

As part of the settlement with Garden Manor, SunCoke agreed to build the plant east of the original site, or about 4,000 feet from the nursing facility. It will use the original site for coal unloading, rail track and a storage facility.