Mr LN Mittal chairman of ArcelorMittal said that it is facing cost overruns for its projects in India because of delays in securing regulatory approvals and is looking to expand in other emerging markets.

Mr Mittal said that but the cost could rise by about 50% because of delays in getting the necessary approvals and mine allocations. He said that "When we started, we estimated they will cost about USD 20 billion, but there is a delay costs are going up. The more the delay, the higher the cost overruns."

Mr Mittal said that "We are in the process of expediting the process so that from our side, we are ready to start the projects when we get the approvals."

Mr Mittal said that "We are awaiting approvals and mine allocations." He said that despite these delays, ArcelorMittal remained convinced of the growth prospects in India and was looking for more Greenfield opportunities. It also hoped to expand its business in other emerging markets, including Mexico and Brazil. He further added that "We believe these economies will continue to grow. We believe steel demand will continue to grow 3% to 5% over the next 10 years."

ArcelorMittal had said that it would invest USD 20 billion over the next 10 years to build two steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa to produce about 25 million tonnes of steel in total. ArcelorMittal said that in February it was negotiating with the 2 states for mining rights. India had allocated some coal blocks for the plants and the company was due to get more blocks.

Indian domestic steel prices for long products remained stable on September 10th 2008.

ILPPI – Indian Long Product Price Index
IFPPI – Indian Flat Product Price Index
INDSPI – Indian Steel Price Index

Long products

Flat products

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

To know the actual price levels on daily basis, please subscribe to service of www.steelprices-india.com

Outotec announced that it has won an order from Steel Authority of India Limited for the design and delivery of an iron ore sinter plant for SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant. The new sinter plant is expected to become operational in 2011.

Outotec will implement the turnkey plant project in consortium with Larsen & Toubro Limited Outotec's contract price exceeds EUR 25 million.

Outotec's scope covers engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment as well as technical services for a sinter plant with a reaction area of 360 square meters. Larsen & Toubro will cover engineering and supply of local mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works as well as complete site services including civil, structural and construction works.

Mr Tapani Järvinen President & CEO of Outotec said that "Outotec is currently building four other sinter plants in India, 2 of which for SAIL's IISCO works in Burnpur, one for TATA Steel in Kalinga Nagar and one for JSW Steel in Toranagallu. These together with the Rourkela order demonstrate clearly Outotec's leadership as a technology supplier in the area of iron ore sintering.”

The new sinter plant is part of SAIL's program of expanding the annual capacity of the Rourkela Steel Plant by 2 million tonnes of crude steel.

BL reported that Iron exports through the 3 east coast ports of Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Haldia have sharply dropped mainly due to the slump in international price of ore, presumably caused by reduced Chinese buying. The free on board price has dropped below USD 100 a tonne.

Mr K Raghuramaiah chairman of the Paradip Port Trust told BL that “Earlier, we were loading three ships a day totaling on an average, 50,000 tonnes, but the throughput has dropped to 50,000 tonnes a week. He said that in the first week of this month, there were no ore ships at the port.”

Mr Raghuramaiah said that he had taken up the matter with the Shipping Secretary, who promised to look into it.

According to Mr K Ratna Kishore chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, the situation at the Visakhapatnam port is no different as the loading of ore for exports has dropped drastically from 3 ships a week to 1 ship a week. He said that the only saving grace was that the coastal shipment of ore through the port for Essar and others had so far remained unaffected.

Haldia presents almost the same scenario. A spokesman for the Haldia Dock Complex said that “Earlier, at any point of time, on an average, four ore ships used to wait for loading. But now we’re loading 4 ships a week. He added that in August, we loaded around 6 million tonnes as compared to 7.5 million tonnes in August last year.”

China is believed to have cut down heavily on ore imports due to several reasons such as huge accumulation of ore an estimated 70 million tonnes at various Chinese ports and closure of a large number of small and medium steel producing units due to environment and other reasons.

It is reported that Essar Steel Algoma restarted blast furnace after 3 workers sustained burns in an accident.

Ms Brenda Stenta spokeswoman Essar said that workers at the No 6 furnace were pouring slag into a large pot when it reacted to some water that was inadvertently left in the pot and created a steam splash.

She said that 3 of them were treated in hospital and they were brought back to work later the same day. Production was not affected and work was not halted.

An internal probe is under way to investigate if proper procedures were followed or any remedial action needs to be taken to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

BS reported that Vedanta Resources has decided not to pursue a proposal to build an INR 20,000 crore, 5 million tonne steel project in Orissa in view of its strategy to focus on non ferrous and iron ore businesses.

As per report, the steel project found no mention in Vedanta’s capital expenditure plan of USD 26 billion for 3 years nor was it mentioned in the organizational restructuring, both of which were announced recently.

The report cited a source as saying that “The company announced the steel project in tune with the government policy to promote the value addition of important raw materials like iron ore. But now the steel business is no longer part of Vedanta’s strategy.”

The steel project was proposed in August 2004 when Mr Anil Agarwal chairman Vedanta Resources met Mr Naveen Patnaik CM of Orissa but little progress has taken place since then.

India’s leading manufacturer and exporter of manganese alloys Maithan Alloys Ltd announced plans to set up a 72 MVA ferroalloys unit at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh with an installed capacity of 120.000 tonnes per annum at an investment of INR 275 crore.

According to Mr SC Agarwalla MD of Maithan Alloys Ltd, the project will be set up under the aegis of a wholly owned subsidiary and it will be funded by a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals. Commercial production from the unit will commence from the fiscal 2011-12.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Agarwalla said the company presently has a 94,600 tonne per annum capacity ferroalloys plant that is located near Asansol in West Bengal. Another plant with a capacity of 28,000 tonne per annum is being set up in Meghalaya and the same is slated to be commissioned in the last quarter of the current fiscal.

Mr Agarwalla said all the plants would concentrate on the manufacture of manganese alloys only. With the commissioning of the Andhra Pradesh project, the company would account of 18% of the country’s production of manganese alloys, up from 10% at present.

According to him, Maithan Alloys has also decided to set up a 100% subsidiary for its mines and minerals business. Efforts are on to acquire manganese ore for captive use. Environmental clearance for one such ore located in Orissa was awaited.

The Hindu reported that 17 employees of Rourkela Steel Plant have been selected to receive the coveted Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar 2007. The prestigious national level award is instituted by the Union Ministry of Labor and Employment for workmen employed in factories throughout the country.

For the first time such a huge number of employees from RSP have won the prestigious award in a year.

Mr Abhaya Ranjan Das senior technician cum senior operator of SMS-II has bagged the award in category +b+ for his creative endeavor regarding modification in the EOT cranes.

RSP sources said that a team of employees from coke ovens comprising Mr Ballav Panda, Mr Prafulla Kumar Jena and Mr Rajkishore Sahu all senior operators, Mr Jhasaketan Mishra and Mr Manoj Kumar Gharai both operators and Mr Sunaram Murmu technician have won the award in category ‘c’ for their project pertaining to streamlining of functioning of blending bunkers.

Another group from structural and fabrication shop comprising Mr Ratikanta Mishra, Mr Nishamani Parida, Mr Bidhu Praanna Das, Mr Kalu Charan Moharana, Mr Bhumendra Muduli and Mr Debabrata Mishra all senior technicians and Mr Rajesh Nayak and Mr Durga Kishan both technicians have bagged the award in category ‘c’ for developing a very high value critical equipment like cold zone recuperator for use in hot strip mill.

Mr Anil Kanti Mohanta senior technician coke oven and Mr Ashok Mohapatra senior technician of repair construction have won the award in category ‘c’ for improving unloading of coal in bunkers of coke ovens.

It is reported that Abhijeet Group is planning to enhance its presence in West Bengal by setting up Greenfield projects as well as by increasing the capacity of the group's existing ferroalloy plant in Durgapur.

The Greenfield projects will include a 2 million tonnes per annum capacity integrated steel plant along with a 1,200 MW coal based thermal power plant in Burdwan district and a 4 million tonnes per annum ferroalloy plant along with a 200 MW power plant in East Midnapore district.
As per report, the expansion plan of the existing ferroalloy unit at Durgapur will be to increase the capacity from the present 38,850 tonnes per annum to 60,000 tonnes per annum and setting up of a captive power plant comprising a 25 MW coal based plant and 8 MW rice husk based plant.

BL reported that with the latest acquisition of a 50% stake in Italy based Sofinter Gammon India would complete its technology gap in the power space and qualify itself to bid for equipment and EPC works in power generation plants.

Gammon has acquired the above stake through its offshore subsidiary. Sofinter is the holding company of Ansaldo Caldaie, a company engaged in manufacturing of super critical boilers for power utilities, boilers used for conversion of biomass and waste in energy as well as heat recovery steam generators. This company has already won orders for design and supply of boilers and auxiliaries in the country.

The 50 per cent stake valued at about EUR 50 million would be funded through debt, a strategy adopted for the earlier acquisitions as well. The debt geared by the subsidiary would not result in a higher burden in the standalone entity.

Gammon acquired strategic stakes in two other Italian companies a few months ago; these companies are in the business of power EPC and manufacture of power turbines. With the current strategic acquisition, Gammon would have complete access to equipment technology as well as EPC skills. These companies would not only provide access to the European market but also provide technology for Gammon to bid for power projects in the country. With low capacity utilization, especially in the companies initially acquired, Gammon is likely to benefit from the additional capacities available, without having to resort to any fresh CAPEX program.

Gammon derives almost 50% of its current revenues from the power segment through civil structuring works for power projects. The current move towards forward integration, if successful, would not only result in its power segment becoming a key earnings driver but also result in higher profit margins when compared to the mere contracting work done so far.

It is reported that L&T heavy engineering division has been awarded an order to manufacture and supply 10 Nos of Hydrotreating Reactors and 12 Nos of Coke Drums for Petrobras 200,000 barrel per day Northeast refinery project in Brazil. The total value of the order is approximately USD 160 million. This is the largest order ever received by L&T from South America.

As per report, the eeactors will be manufactured from advanced technology steels containing Chromium, Molybdenum and Vanadium, whilst the Coke Drums will be manufactured using Cr Mo steel. These Reactors and Coke Drums will be delivered to the refinery in Brazil in the financial year 2010-11.

Anticipating the developments in the global hydrocarbon industry, L&T has proactively embarked on a major expansion program at its state manufacturing facility at Hazira which is rated as one of the largest and most modem integrated manufacturing complexes situated on a water front with easy access to the sea.

In addition, a new heavy fabrication facility is under construction at Sohar, Oman. This facility will be a first of its kind venture in the GCC region and will have the capability to manufacture critical equipment for refineries, petrochemicals and fertilizer projects apart from other process industries.

India is large market for import of steel scrap and this is the directory which is going to help many interested group to know this industry.

Published in September 2008, ' Directory of Scrap Suppliers to India' has been comprehensively researched and prepared, to bring you a fully up to date guide to overseas scrap supplier.

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

Content:
This report covers name and product details of 1191 companies in India in alphabetical as well as location wise order. Look at the information you'll get in the 'Directory of Construction Companies in India’

• Company name -1191 entries
• Address-1191 entries
• Email-1074
• Phone number-1140
• Fax number -431 entries

Format:
PDF File
Total no of pages – 545

Delivery by Email on receipt of payment

Price:
USD 500 or equivalent in INR
Additional Charges would be levied for delivery of file on a CD or in printed form

How to order:
Ordering the report is simple. You can order your copy to reports@steelguru.com , who will send you an invoice of the report.

The Index of six core infrastructure industries crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished carbon steel having a combined weight of 26.7% in the Index of Industrial Production with base 1993-94 stood at 240.1 (provisional) in July 2008, registering a growth of 4.3% (provisional) compared to a growth of 7.2% in July 2007.

During April to July 2008-09, six core infrastructure industries registered a growth of 3.7% (provisional) as against 6.6% during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Finished (carbon) steel
Finished (carbon) Steel production (weight of 5.13% in the IIP) registered a growth of 1.9% (provisional) in July 2008 compared to 10.8% (estimated) in July 2007. Finished (carbon) Steel production grew by 3.8% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared with an increase of 6.8% during the same period of 2007-08.

Coal
Coal production (weight of 3.2% in the IIP) registered a growth of 5.5% (provisional) in July 2008 compared to growth rate of 1.1% in July 2007. Coal production grew by 7.7% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared with 0.8% during the same period of 2007-08.

Crude Oil
Crude oil production (weight of 4.17% in the IIP) registered a negative growth of 3% (provisional) in July 2008 compared to a growth rate of 0.9% in July 2007. The crude oil production registered a negative growth of 0.9% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared to negative growth of 0.3% during the same period of 2007-08.

Petroleum Refinery Products
Petroleum refinery production (weight of 2% in the IIP) registered a growth of 11.8% (provisional) in July 2008 compared to growth of 4.7% in July 2007. The petroleum refinery production registered a growth of 5.4% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared to 11% during the same period of 2007-08.

Electricity
Electricity generation (weight of 10.17% in the IIP) registered a growth of 4.5% (provisional) in July 2008 compared to a growth rate of 7.5% in July 2007. Electricity generation grew by 2.6% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared with 8.1% during the same period of 2007-08.

Cement
Cement production (weight of 1.99% in the IIP) registered a growth of 8.8% (provisional) in July 2008 compared with 9.4% in July 2007. Cement production grew by 6.5% (provisional) during Apr-Jul 2008-09 compared with an increase of 7.7% during the same period of 2007-08.

Indian Railways have carried 336.00 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during April to August 2008. The freight carried shows an increase of 26.66 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 309.34 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year an increase of 8.62%.

During the month of August 2008, the revenue earning freight traffic carried by Indian Railways was 65.27 million tonnes. There is an increase of 3.32 million tonnes over the actual freight traffic of 61.95 million tonnes carried by the Indian Railways during the same period last year an increase of 5.36%.

ET reported that the land hunt inside the TATA Nano complex for Singur’s farmers could get messier. Ms Mamata Banerjee may be gunning for 300 acres inside the complex, but the Nano vendors are determined to spoil her party.

On Wednesday, some 20 odd vendors informed the West Bengal government that they were not in a position to either return the land to local farmers or relocate their units elsewhere in Singur.

Their stand comes on the heels of TATA Motors’ insistence on the integral nature of the Nano complex, wherein the mother plant and the vendor park have to be next to each other.

State government sources told that “The vendors have written to us that construction work at their units has reached an advanced stage and therefore it would not be possible for them to either give land or relocate their units elsewhere.”

Sources indicated that the joint committee set up to thrash out the Singur land return formula is also taking legal advise to ascertain whether it is possible to return land acquired by the state for public purpose. Incidentally, the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 bars the state government from returning land acquired for public purpose.

A section of legal eagles, however, feel the possibility of returning land to farmers by the state government can also be interpreted as “land given for public purpose” and can be explored to sort out the land return issue.

State government sources said out of the 55 vendors, more than 30 have already started construction at the site. “If we have to relocate our plants, it will be difficult for us to absorb the accompanying financial hit. More than 80% work at our unit is complete,” said a senior official of Caparo Engineering, one of the leading vendors of Nano.

Projects Today reported that Essar Oil's crude oil production from its Mehsana block in Gujarat is to face yet another block as the government is unlikely to approve the company's move for shifting the delivery point due to revenue loss.

Essar has changed the crude oil delivery point from the oil field to a distance of 30 kilometer at Sobhasan in Gandhinagar district.

As per report, the company has decided to shift the crude oil delivery point as it wants to supply crude oil to its customer in the saleable form. In June 2007, Essar had requested the government to shift the delivery point from the field to ONGC's processing facility at Sobhasan.

Government has cited many reasons for its disapproval like increase in the cost of JVs reduction in the government's stake etc. For Essar it’s not economically possible to have separate treatment, processing and storing facilities in case of more than one field.

It is reported that GVK Power & Infrastructure and Nuclear Power Corporation of India plans to buy reactors and equipment from General Electric Company and Westinghouse Electric Company.

As per report GVK is also negotiating with Alstom SA and Siemens AG to buy reactors, whereas NPCIL plans to buy more than USD 14 billion of equipment by 2009.

BL reported that power cuts coupled with thermal surcharge of INR 0.50 for a unit imposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board this year on industries have pushed the extra high tension and high tension consumer industries in the State into a serious crisis. Among them, one of the worst hit is the public sector Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited at Udhyogamandal which is already struggling for survival.

A senior official said that it has come at a time when FACT is finding it difficult to run its units at full capacity for want of raw materials and high cost which has restricted its imports. The domestic supplier of phosphoric acid a Tuticorin based company has not agreed to increase volume of supply, besides being reluctant to enter into a long term supply contract because of the upward trend in prices.

He said that “However, negotiations are still on and we hope to reach some agreement.”

The company source said that “is drawing power at 110 kV and consuming about 13.7 million units a month. It added that our total contracted maximum demand with KSEB is 30 MVA.”

The KSEB decision has placed an additional burden of INR 63 crore a year on FACT. Following failure of the southwest monsoon this year, the KSEB had imposed a 25% power cut and the thermal surcharge effective July 25th and August 20th respectively.

Project Monitor reported that Kerala is seen to be making good progress in its effort to develop its numerous minor ports. Discussing various ongoing development works Capt S Vijayan Pillai Director of Ports Government Kerala told Project Monitor that by 2011-12 the state has targeted to handle 27 million tonnes of cargo through its non major ports.

Much of the capacity expansion is targeted through private participation and it is expected that over INR 5,000 crore of private investment would flow into Kerala's maritime infrastructure development in the coming years. While development of non major ports got a major boost with the recent award of the Vizhinjam international container terminal project others like Beypore, Azhikkal, Alappuzha, Thangassery and Ponnani are also seen progressing.

The state government has decided to develop a marina and a cargo harbour Alapuzzha in the namesake district. The port department is currently seeking consultants to prepare the detailed project report and to structure the project on PPP basis. Explaining the background, Captain Pillai said that earlier it was envisaged to develop the marina followed by the cargo harbor. L&T Ramboll Consulting Engineers had even prepared the detailed project report for this configuration.

Captain Pillai said that "We have now decided to develop the 2 aspects concurrently which is why consultants are being sought again." He added that the detailed projects are expected to be ready in 4 months from appointment of consultants. The cargo harbor would essentially be a coastal shipping one and in keeping with the current trends in maritime trade should be able to handle containers also.

Regarding the Thangassery port in Kollam district, Captain Pillai said that the port was dedicated to the nation in November last year and the Centre has sanctioned around INR 20 crore for development works to enable commercial operations. Work orders have been issued for expanding the wharf length from 116 million to 240 million and for channel deepening. Further development at the port will be done through private participation, Capt Pillai said that elaborating that 4 consultants had been short listed for structuring the project on PPP mode. He said that "The consultant will be finalized in around 2 weeks."

For the Azhikkal and Beypore port projects in Kannur district, Capt Pillai said that Mumbai based Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited and Delhi based Consulting Engineering Services Private Limited had been appointed as respective consultants to design the port development projects on PPP basis. He said that "Work on preparing the project report and structuring on PPP basis will begin very soon." Both the Azhikkal and Beypore ports will handle multipurpose cargo while the former will also have a ship repair complex. In phase-I of the two projects a total investment of INR 3,000 crore is expected to flow in.

Captain Pillai said that Chennai based Creative Port Development Private Limited has submitted a suo moto detailed development plan. The state government will adopt the Swiss Challenge Route before awarding the project. Bids will be invited from other potential developers giving the original proponent a chance to match them.

The state received a major boost with the INR 5,400 crore Vizhinjam international container terminal project after being dogged by delays was finally awarded to Lanco Group Malaysia's Pembinan Redzai. The private developer was also awarded the security clearance recently. To be developed in four phases with an ultimate capacity of 6.5 million TEUs, phase-I of the project will aim at 1.5 million TEUs involving investment of INR 2,400 crore over the next 5 years. While Lanco will construct the terminal, the Malaysian partner will operate it. The consortium will develop the project on BOT basis under a 33 year concession period.

Recent developments bode well for Kerala's maritime and tourism infrastructure. Although Kerala has a vast coastline of 590 kilometer punctuated by 18 ports, infrastructure constraints abound. Capt Pillai said that "Cargo handling is currently limited to only the Azhikkal, Beypore and Vizhinjam ports." Most of the remaining seventeen ports are seasonal ports that are incapable even of handling small and medium vessels throughout the year. Kerala has only one major port at Kochi which is under Central management. The major port handled 15.8 million tonnes of cargo in 2007-08 accounting for less than 4% of the combined cargo at all major ports.

It is reported that leading private financial institution IL&FS is likely to pick 50% stake in NTPC-BHEL power projects and would be the strategic partner in the joint venture company.

NTPC and BHEL each will hold 25% stake in the joint venture company, which was floated in April this year.

Four key bidders may end up competing for most of the 12 highway projects of National Highways Authority of India which were processed during the last few weeks.

The bidders are
1. Larsen and Toubro
2. A consortium of China Railway 18th Bureau Group and Maytas
3. A consortium of Hindustan Construction Company and British firm John Laing
4. A consortium of Spanish firm Isolux and Soma Enterprise

Larsen and Toubro has qualified for eight projects, CR18G and Maytas have qualified to bid for 11 projects (for six projects out of those, Nagarjuna Construction is also partner), Hindustan Construction Company and John Laing consortium get to bid for all 12 projects (they have Sadbhav Engineering as a partner for two projects) and another consortium that includes Spanish firm-Isolux and Soma Enterprise get to bid for ten projects (for six projects, they have partnered with real estate company Omaxe).

This would happen if NHAI were to process these bids according to a contentious request for qualification document prescribed by the Government for public private partnership projects, which states that requests for proposal or financial bids should be invited from five to six bidders only, instead of inviting bids from all firms who technically qualify for a project.

Press Trust of India cited Mr Lakshmi Mittal chairman of ArcelorMittal as saying that there was no Indian company on his takeover radar.

Mr Mittal said that “It is very unlikely that we get an M&A opportunity in India as Indian entrepreneurs are doing very well and whatever expansion we are planning in India would be through Greenfield projects. He said that it is very unlikely for us to do an M&A deal in India.”

Mr Mittal said that “Globally, ArcelorMittal has spent USD 21 billion in merger and acquisitions over the past couple of years in steel, iron ore and distribution deals, most of which have been in the US and Mexico.”

He added that ArcelorMittal plans to invest USD 50 billion across the world excluding India, to expand its steel making capacity from 110 million tonnes to 130 million tonnes by 2012. However, this investment would be mostly in brown-field expansion at its existing facilities.

Mr LN Mittal chairman of ArcelorMittal ruled out reviewing ArcelorMittal's plans for India because of the ongoing Singur crisis and said a single standoff like that does not make the country a less attractive investment destination.

Mr Mittal said that "One case of Singur cannot be an example for the world. One can face this kind of problem in any other country. One particular project can face this kind of opposition from people. But the country as a whole is interested in growing. He said that the Singur crisis does not take away India as an investment destination. We are not going to revisit our plans because of Singur."

He said that "Our projects in Jharkhand and Orissa are facing 50% cost overruns due to delay in mining and other approvals. The total cost of these projects may raise up to USD 30 billion.”

He also urged the Orissa and Jharkhand governments to expedite approvals. He said that "So far we are getting support from both the governments. The issue is how fast we can execute and implement and how fast the governments can execute their portion of responsibilities."

Mr Mittal comments came close on the heels of India Inc's negative reaction on the Singur case including many companies saying they will reconsider investments in West Bengal if the situation does not improve soon.

Mr Mittal said that ArcelorMittal has no plan to review its investments in India due to the ongoing tension at Singur, West Bengal over the land acquisition for TATA Motors' Nano car project. Terming Singur as only an isolated case, the steel tycoon said that the political backlash there does not take away India's status as one of the leading investment destinations.

According to a press release, National Ship Design & Research Centre is holding a 1 day workshop on the impact of ban on TBT paints on the shipping industry. The seminar, to be held at the NSDRC conference hall at Gandhigram will be inaugurated by Prof B Satyanarayana vice chancellor of Andhra University.

The objective of the seminar is to disseminate information regarding the TBT paints and their impact and the alternatives available to the shipping industry.

ET reported that Hyundai Motor will develop its low cost car in India with critical support in terms of design and technical analysis from its research facility in Hyderabad.

Hyundai Motor India new car would help it take on TATA Nano and micro car offerings from other global companies like GM, Toyota, Renault Bajaj, Fiat and Volkswagen. The new car is expected to be much cheaper than Santro and will be priced around USD 4,000 to USD 5,000.

Although the car is primarily for India a certain portion of that supply will also go to Malaysian and other Asian markets.

To beef up its operations, the company has decided to make India its sole small car manufacturing hub and shifted its small car R&D to its Hyderabad centre. The final product will be jointly researched and developed by the Hyderabad centre and Hyundai’s global R&D headquarters at Ulsan in Korea.

Mr HS Lheem MD & CEO of Hyundai Motor India said that “We are planning a petrol car which will be a notch above the Nano segment. It will be price competitive and exclusively target the Indian market, but may be followed by a global launch later. He said that by the time this car will be launched in India, the demand for small cars will double to about 2 million units per year.”

BL reported that the row over construction of a rail line to the Gangavaram port is still unresolved, even though the port authorities and the State Government have agreed to share the cost of constructing a flyover at Balacheruvu road to facilitate the free flow of traffic.

All the unions in the Visakhapatnam steel plant have objected to the construction of a rail line to the port without first building the flyover as it will become difficult for the workers to go to the work spot especially when they are changing shifts.

An earlier attempt to construct the rail line at the trouble spot was foiled by the workers. The workers of the steel plant held a demonstration earlier this month and served an ultimatum to the management over the issue.

Subsequently, discussions were held between the district administration, the Gangavaram port authorities and the steel plant officials.

It was agreed that a flyover be built with the cost being shared by the Gangavaram port and the State Government, but it now appears that there has been a problem over the width of the bridge.

The Gangavaram port officials now contend that they have agreed to construct a bridge with a width of 7.5 meters within 6 to 9 months and to take subsequent steps for the purpose. The steel plant officials, however, want a bridge with a width of 10.5 meters a proposal not acceptable to the Gangavaram port officials.

The officials argue that the additional cost for increasing the width should be borne by the steel plant. The issue is yet to be sorted out.

The steel plant unions have condemned the dilly dallying over the issue and demanded that a decision be taken quickly and amicably in the interests of workers. The Gangavaram port is ready for operations, though the official inauguration of the port has not yet taken place.

BL cited Mr L Mansingh chairman of Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board as saying that it would encourage purchase of gas in spot market to augment supplies in India and favors a roll back of subsidy in LPG.

Mr Mansingh said that at its second round table meeting after Hyderabad, organized under the aegis of Confederation of Indian Industry, the regulator would encourage the emerging spot gas market to ensure supplies. He said that “We will also have different prices for different categories of consumers and entities.”

He said that the regulator has taken up with the Union Government the issue of a phased roll back of subsidy on LPG in view of the expanding city gas distribution system across India. He added that “Even the Planning Commission of India has supported us.” He said that the 11th Plan has accorded the third highest priority to CGD after fertilizer and power sectors.

Asked about the regulator’s view of the Charotar Gas Sahakari Mandali Limited, the country’s only CGD in the cooperative sector with about 7,000 customers in Anand, he favored separate regulations for such entities. He said that “An entity has to be registered under the Companies Act at the time of bidding. However, if they want to continue as a cooperative society, we could consider their case.”

Mr AJ Parmar MD of Charotar Gas said that a society registered under the Cooperatives Act of the Gujarat Government cannot be registered under the Companies Act. It was yet to be seen how the new regulations work out in such cases. Mr Mansingh said that the regulator would provide online access to those dealing with it but could also open regional offices, if necessary.

Press Trust of India reported that ArcelorMittal submitted a so called detailed project report for its venture in India's Orissa state to the provincial government in July and is trying to secure land and mining permits.

Mr Lakshmi Mittal chairman of ArcelorMittal said that the company expects to submit a similar report for its mill in Jharkhand by end of the year.

ArcelorMittal has proposed to set 2 mills in India, one in Orissa and another in Jharkhand with a total capacity of 24 million tonnes at an investment of USD 20 billion. It signed an accord for the Jharkhand mill in mid 2005 followed by the one in Orissa.

Mr Mittal said that the steelmaker has identified how many families would need to be rehabilitated in Orissa and has begun talking to villagers and non governmental organizations about benefits of the venture.

He said that in Jharkhand, the company has secured rights for 65 million tonnes of iron ore, a quantity deemed insufficient for the project and is in talks with the state government for more.

Press Trust said that Mr Mittal was in New Delhi today for an internal meeting of the steelmaker.

According to McKinsey & Company, the eastern states Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh hold more than 70% of the nation's coal reserves and 55% of its iron ore.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Nippon Steel Corp and other Japanese steel makers have reached a broad agreement with electronics equipment makers to raise steel prices by an average of JPY 32,000 (USD 297) per tonne for the October to March period.

The paper said that it would be a bigger hike than JPY 20,000 for the first six months of the business year as steel makers try to pass onto clients the burden of JPY 3.5 trillion in annual costs, up by JPY 500 billion from an earlier estimate,

It added that the rise in the steel price would likely spur electronics makers to increase prices of their products.

In response to requests from petitioners, US Department of Commerce is conducting the fourteenth administrative review of the antidumping order on corrosion resistant carbon steel flat products from the Republic of Korea.

This review covers 7 manufacturers and exporters of the subject merchandise namely LG Chemicals Limited, Haewon MSC Co Limited, Dongkuk Industries Co Limited, Dongbu Steel Co Limited, Hyundai HYSCO, POSCO and Pohang Coated Steel Co Limited.

The period of review is August 1st 2006, through July 31st 2007.DoC preliminarily determine that during the period of review, Dongbu, HYSCO, the POSCO Group, and Union, made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value.

US DOC said that “In addition, based on the preliminary results for the respondents selected for individual review, we have preliminarily determined a weighted- average margin for those companies that were not selected for individual review. If these preliminary results are adopted in the final results of this administrative review, we will instruct US.”

JMB reported that JFE Steel increases the selling price of plate steel by JPY 10,000 per tonne for distributors for September 2008 order or October 2008 production. It already started the notice for the buyers since late August 2008.

JFE Steel indicates that the supply volume to distributors could decrease in and after October 2008 as compared with April to September 2008 period when the firm adjusts the shipment depending on demand and market conditions.