Anticipating the numerous challenges and opportunities emerging from the rapidly changing steel landscape of the country with India entering a steel intensive phase of development, Steel Authority of India Limited is reorienting its approach and strategies accordingly.

Mr SK Roongta chairman of SAIL during company's 36th Annual General Meeting held last week told shareholders that "The challenge of growth is well recognized and SAIL is decisively proceeding towards long term sustained growth.”

Mr Roongta said that “The company and the Indian steel industry has come under the conflicting pressures of contending with sharply rising input costs, yet need to contain its product prices in order to check inflation. The industry has responded to the government's concerns on steel price rise. However, with the country again becoming a net importer of steel, as a long term solution it is imperative that new production capacities come up. Moderating prices in spite of substantial increases in input costs and yet maintaining margins to generate resources for further investments, is going to be a tough challenge for the steel players."

Mr Roongta added that “The record turnover and profit, best-ever operating efficiency parameters and highest-ever production and sales achieved by SAIL during 2007-08 and in the first quarter of the current financial year indicated the success of the company's strategies, especially relating to improvement in equipments and labor productivity, aggressive cost cutting and jump in value added steel production.”

He said that “SAIL's confidence about sustained growth in steel consumption in the country remains intact, in view of the steel intensive development being witnessed in the Indian economy and the major steel consuming industrial sectors."

He reiterated SAIL's plan to proceed with the ongoing modernization & expansion program to take hot metal production capacity to 26 million tonnes.

Mr. Roongta added that “SAIL is strengthening raw material security and distribution network, giving impetus to new business initiatives through collaborations and joint ventures, and developing new and superior grades of steel to provide enhanced value to customers.”

There was deceleration in the fall of Indian domestic steel prices in last week on the whole but markets for longs became firmer and some recovery was witnessed during the week.

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

The lowest values, after a continuous slide from August 5th 2008, are as under

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

Input materials

Domestic prices for iron ore prices remained unchanged at Burwil but sponge iron and scrap prices at some locations went down marginally, while they gained at some of the locations. Pencil ingot after major dip in pervious week gained at some of the important locations.

Melting scrap
80:20
HMS

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Alang

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Pencil ingot

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Pig Iron

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Sponge iron

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Long products

TMT
Fe 415
12mm

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

WRC
SWR14
5.5/6

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

ANGL
GR A
65x6

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

CHNL
GR A
75/100

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

JSTI
GR A
250x125

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

However, due to reduction in prices of input materials last week and further reduction in this week, would push the prices of long products down in coming times.

Flat products

HRC
Tube
2.5x1250

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

Patra

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

PLTS
GRA
8x1.5

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

PLTS
GRB
12-20x2.5

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

CR
DSK
0.63x1000

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

GC
100Gms
0.4

Change on September 12th is with respect to prices on September 5th 2008
Change is in INR per tonne

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

PTI reported that South Korea's POSCO is making inroads in India by increasing the number and capacity of steel processing centers.

In a joint venture with its domestic consumer electronics peer LG Electronics, POSCO had in 2006 set up a subsidiary at Talegaon in Pune, POSCO India Pune Processing Centre for processing the alloy. POSCO-IPPC, in which POSCO owns the majority stake mainly brings raw materials from different POSCO works and processes them as per the customers' requirements. The Talegaon facility, built with an investment of USD 20 million has an annual steel processing capacity of 170,000 tonne.

POSCO-IPPC is now setting up one more processing centre at Talegaon, adjoining the existing facility, with an investment of USD 20 million. The plant will have an annual capacity of 120,000 tonne and be operational by the end of this year.

As per report, putting up a third plant is also in its agenda which may come up in Chennai.

Mr Gil Ho Bang of MD of POSCO-IPPC said that "We are thinking of putting up the third plant. It has not yet been decided. It may come next year. We are trying to find out the land.”

He said that POSCO-IPPC also does processing jobs for domestic steel makers. However, some sophisticated variants of the alloy like Silicon steel is directly imported to sell in the Indian market.

Press Truss of India reported that Steel Authority of India Limited’s Rourkela Steel Plant’s hot strip mill has processed a record 8,933 tonnes of steel slabs on Friday beating its own record of 8,453 tonnes on the same date last year.

Rourkela Steel Plant officials said that it also rolled out a record number of 542 slabs to produce 8,770 tonnes of HR coils which is again another record. Incidentally on September 13th 2007, the hot strip mill had made the previous highest production of 8,453 tonnes of slab and 8,275 tonnes of HR coils.

According to the RSP officials, coordination between the various wings made it possible. However, it has set a target of producing more than 9,000 tonne of slab rolling in a day.

TOI reported that a day after the Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd suspended land acquisition process for its proposed plant at Potka following assault on its surveyors, the East Singhbhum district administration on Saturday announced a probe into the incident. The probe would be conducted jointly by district and firm's officials.

Livid over the Thursday incident in which its surveyors were assaulted, garlanded with shoes and made to do sit ups, Mr H C Verma director of BPSL on Saturday called on Mr Shibu Soren chief minister and sought his intervention in the matter.

Mr Verma said that “His company is here to do business and develop the state through industrialization. We would be happy if the government acquires the land for us and added even shifting the project to a new site, if needed, won't be a problem if the company is assured land, safety of employees and water and power supply.”

But Mr Verma however, categorically ruled out the possibility of withdrawing the project from Jharkhand. The three million tonne per annum steel plant along with a 900 MW power plant is to be set up at an estimated cost of INR 12,000 crore.

Project monitor reported that BS Transcomm Limited based in Hyderabad is setting up a steel fabrication and galvanization of tower parts at Majeedpally, Toopran in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh.

The project will be implemented in 2 phases. Phase-I will have a capacity of 84,000 tonnes per annum and phase-II will have a capacity of 1.20 million tonnes per annum work on phase-I is progressing.

As per report, the new division is designed to cater to the needs of tower requirement to various agencies like Central, state electricity boards and cellular operators. The manufacturing facility includes a modern and fully automated fabrication and machine shop equipped with the latest FICEP CNC and hydraulic machines, shearing machines, EoT cranes for material handling and a galvanizing plant.

It is reported that while expressing strong concerns over the mass killing of endangered Olive Ridley turtles on Orissa coast, several wildlife activists and turtle experts have decided to meet TATA Steel MD Mr B Muthuraman in October first or second week.

Greenpeace India, Wild Life Protection Society of India, Conservation Action Trust, Sanctuary Asia, Kalpavriksh, National Fish Workers’ Forum and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment are expected to attend the meeting to ask TATAs not to go head with its Dhamara Port project.

Mr Ashish Fernandes Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner said that “We are meeting Muthuraman in October; the date has not been finalized yet. We would raise our concerns over the protection of Olive Ridley turtles. He said that we would make every effort to high light the issue using our presence.”

Dhamra Port Company Limited has roped in International Union for Conservation of Nature to get its assistance in developing environmental standards during the construction. The DPCL scientists are monitoring the dredging work on the site. Based on their suggestions, we have installed turtle defectors on the dredgers and installing turtle-friendly lighting in the port area.

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.

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

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The Hindu reported that Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is involved in the efforts of the Ministry of Steel to provide relief measures to the victims of the unprecedented floods caused by the river Kosi.

According to Mr V Phaneendrudu deputy GM of RINL, Mr Ramvilas Paswan minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Steel who had addressed a meeting of the CMDs of the PSUs under the Ministry of Steel to gear relief efforts and it was decided to establish 150 relief camps to provide medical assistance. The doctors will be provided by the steel PSUs from their own hospitals.

BL reported that Power Exchange of India Limited, a JV between National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange and National Stock Exchange, will go live in the first week of October.

Mr R Ramaseshan MD & CEO of NCDEX said that “We have received the approval of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and the exchange will commence operations from the first week of October. He said that we are in the process of developing software for the power exchange. We will trade on power that is unused by the consumers.”

As per report, PEI will be the second power bourse to be operational after the India Energy Exchange set up by Financial Technologies group and PTC Financial Services a unit of PTC India Limited. Other shareholders in IEE are Adani Power, IDFC, Lanco Infrastructure, Reliance Energy, Rural Electrification Corporation and TATA Power. The initiative to form a third power exchange was recently taken by NTPC, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation and TCS.

According to the JV agreement signed last month, TCS will initially hold 50% stake in the company which will be gradually offloaded to new investors in the future. NTPC, NHPC and PFC will hold approximately 16% each. The exchange is expected to be operational in the next fiscal.

PTI reported that Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics will raise USD 1.9 billion by the end of this year for its various expansion plans.

As per report the company has laid out an expansion plan for USD 2.5 billion in the next three years. The amount would be invested with a mix of equity of USD 600 million and the rest through debt.

Mr V Ashok Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Director told PTI that "We will raise the money by the end of this year. For the port business, we will borrow from Indian banks and for shipping and logistic businesses we will borrow from abroad.”

He said that at present shipping contributes 65% of revenues to the group. After 2010-11, Essar expects shipping revenue to come down to 50%. He added that "Over the last year, we have reorganized our businesses from a mere shipping company. As shipping is a cyclical business, it becomes too difficult to manage.”

Mr Ashok said that "We have become an integrated player in India, which is unique. We have embarked upon to build a third-party logistic business. We want to expand logistics in a major way and we are looking at a variety of projects across ports and terminals.”

The company decided to enter the port sector, which would bring in revenues throughout the year and is looking at building terminals at ports. Simultaneously, it entered logistic business working for Essar Steel and Essar Oil.

The Hindu cited Mr R Ramaseshan MD & CEO of NCDEX as saying that National Commodity & Derivates Exchange Limited is planning to introduce electricity trading by October.

Mr Ramaseshan said that this would be done through an equal JV of NCDEX and National Stock Exchange. He said that “We have received the in principle nod of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and hope to launch in the first week of October.”

According to a study conducted by an IIM A team led by faculty and member Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Gujarat accounts for the fourth highest emission of greenhouse gases in the country. The state, known for its chemical, pharma and textile industry, emitted 154.62 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent last year which is 7.41% of the total CO2e emissions in the country.

According to the 2006 guidelines of IPCC, India emitted 2,094 million tonnes of CO2e, calculated under the rigorous Tier III methodology. Of this carbon dioxide accounted for 72%, methane 22% and nitrous oxide 6%. GHGs are measured in CO2 equivalent terms by using respective GWP as conversion factor.

As methane has 21 times and N2O has 310 times more GWP than. The study revealed that an average Indian was guilty of emitting 1.89 tonnes of CO2e and for every INR 100,000 worth of produce, the country emitted 5.07 tonnes of CO2e.

According to experts, a booming economy coupled with rising population is adding to GHG emissions. Coal-endowed states top the chart in terms of per capita and GDP intensity of emissions the most significant emissions being in products like steel or electricity which are consumed outside of these states. Here their production emissions are higher than consumption.

Bihar ranks lowest in per capita emissions with 0.84 tonne per person but its economic output is more emission intensive than the national average. Notably half of Bihar's emissions are from agricultural activities.

Karnataka, an industrial state, has a low emission intensity 70% of national average, due to favorable combine of IT which uses less energy resources to produce a unit of GDP. In Himachal Pradesh, the limestonebased cement and chemical industries contribute two-thirds of state's CO2 emissions.

A source said that "Future growth rate is being projected at 8%. Along with maintaining growth rates there is an urgent need to de couple it from carbon centric fuel to reduce the carbon footprint."

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.

These price indices outline the way domestic steel market is moving day by day and will help producers, agents in the supply chain, steel buyers, bankers and analysts in their respective businesses.

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

State run BHEL has started work on the second phase of NTPC thermal power project at Barh in Bihar without waiting for completion of the first phase which ran into trouble following commercial disputes with Russian equipment suppliers.

Mr Jairam Ramesh minister of state for power told PTI that "The order for supply of equipment for stage two was placed with BHEL which has already started work.”

He said that under the first phase, NTPC placed the order for equipment with Technoprom Exports and Power Machine of Russia. These companies were to commission a capacity of 1,980 MW by mid 2006. But the project could not take off for nine years after its foundation stone was laid.

The dispute with foreign companies revolved around cost escalations. The Russian suppliers demanded additional INR 600 crore citing high steel prices. TPE was to supply boilers while Power Machines was to supply turbines and generators.

The government took up the issue with Russia. Mr Ramesh said that "I have met Russian ambassador to discuss the issue at length. A delegation of NTPC has also visited Moscow to sort out the issue. The work on stage two is expected to start soon.”

Project monitor cited Mr Manoj Pise a senior official of nodal agency Maharashtra Energy Development Agency as saying that Maharashtra is confident of installing 600 MW of new wind power capacity this fiscal year. For the west coast state which has an estimated wind power potential of 4,584 MW this would be the highest ever addition in any year.

In fact, encouraged by the active interest of private sector players MEDA has targeted to add 600 MW of capacity each year from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The state expects to achieve a cumulative capacity of over 4,100 MW by March 2012 compared with 1,488 MW as of March 2007.

Mr Pise said that in the current year, RS India Wind Energy Private Limited is expected to commission 100 MW of wind capacity that forms part of its integrated wind energy project in Sangli district. Sky Power Pekon understood to be a multinational company has also proposed to set up 100 MW of wind power capacity in the same district. He said that "With large projects already under construction, we are confident of adding 600 MW this year."

Mr Pise said that discussing the performance in 2007-08, the first year of the ongoing plan period, he added that Maharashtra added 268 MW of new wind capacity. Some of the major projects to have commissioned that year were BP Energy India Private Limited 40 MW wind farm in Dhule district and Jaypee Associate Limited 24 MW project at Ghatnandre in Sangli district.

For Maharashtra's wind energy scene, fiscal year 2005-06 has been the best with 545 MW of new wind power capacity coming online. In 2006-07 too, the state did well to add 485 MW. If the state adds 2,668 MW in the 11th Plan period as envisaged, it would be more than twice the actual achievement of 1,087 MW in the 10th Plan period.

Mr Pise said that as of July 31st 2008, Maharashtra's wind power capacity stood at 1,794 MW, earning it the second rank after Tamil Nadu which had nearly 3,900 MW. Most of Maharashtra's current wind power capacity is concentrated in Dhule, Satara and Sangli districts. The state is also home to Suzlon Energy's under construction 1,000 MW project at Brahmanvel in Dhule district which would be the largest single location wind farm in the world. The current capacity of the farm has crossed 540 MW, it is reliably learnt.

In what could widen the scope of wind power in Maharashtra, Chennai based Centre for Wind Energy Technology is getting good response from its 80 odd wind monitoring stations spread over the state including currently non dominant districts like Beed, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Jalna, Aurangabad, Hingoli and Pune.

BL reported that New Mangalore Port Trust has started attracting many BOT partners for its upcoming developments. The port has planned 4 berths for a thermal power station of Udupi Power Corporation, windmill power station for Suzlon Energy which is under approval stage, a coal and iron ore station and a container terminal.

As per report, the coal and iron ore terminal will have a capacity of 5 million tonnes costing around INR 300 crore. The feasibility study is being done in this regard. The new container terminal on 60,000 square meter will be of 3 meters. It will have a dredged depth of 15.1 meters. The location of the terminal is accessible from railway and road.

The report added that the road connectivity is possible through NH-17 and rail connectivity from Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Company Limited, Konkan Railway Corporation Limited and Southern Railway. The Konkan at present has one railway line but sooner one more will be added.

Other developments include an LNG terminal on 300 acres having initial capacity of 5 million tonnes to be developed on BOT basis which will be operational within 3 years and has an extendable capacity to 10 million tonnes for future expansion.

Project monitor reported that Gammon Infrastructure Projects Limited has received the letter of allotment for development of the 261 MW Youngthang Khab hydropower project from the Himachal Pradesh government.

As per report Gammon Infrastructure will develop the project on BOOT basis under a 40 year concession agreement. The project is estimated to cost INR 1,510 crore. The private developer has already paid around INR 53 crore as 50% upfront premium to the state government for conceding the project.

BL reported that according to estimates released by the Planning Commission, the earthmoving and construction industry in India is deriving enormous benefits from the infrastructure boom.

India would need USD 492 billion investment in its infrastructure space over the next 5 years. This would enable infrastructure account for 9% of the country's GDP as against 5% now. Needless to said that the ECE industry is poised to be a direct and huge beneficiary.

Currently, the industry is estimated to be around USD 2.3 billion and experts largely agree that the industry holds potential to grow at anywhere between 20% to 30 % in the medium term. Going by this, the industry could touch USD 12 billion by 2015.

Over the recent years, the biggest change in the Indian ECE industry has been the deeper involvement of global players. This has substantially changed the complexion of the industry, ushering a greater consciousness for technology, value and price. Largely due to the involvement of international players, the industry could post a growth of 40% during 2004 to 2006, perhaps being the most prosperous and decisive phase.

India besides having a huge appetite for construction machinery also has the advantage of being a low cost manufacturing base. Foreign players operating in India have taken full cognizance of this advantage and are exploiting it to the hilt. Currently, foreign players use Indian capacities to source around 10% 15% of their global outsourcing, it is estimated. This metric is expected to rise in coming years particularly in the wake of rising international prices of important inputs like steel. Engineering goods which account for a sizeable proportion of India's exports are expected to get a further boost from ECE exports.

A report by McKinsey has suggested that international players can fine tune their strategies for India, to further improve their penetration in the country. For one, they could introduce India specific products that could include low priced multipurpose equipment. Introducing products for missing applications could also be a worthwhile strategy. India's huge technical talent could help international companies to improve their export market in soft areas like engineering and design services.

Project today reported that Maharashtra government will soon come out with a policy for the development of ports in the state.

The proposed policy will mainly deal with issues such as land acquisition for the development of ports, rehabilitation of project affected people and infrastructure requirements. The policy will also make special provision for coastal security.

Project Today reported that Sethusamudram ship canal project in Tamil Nadu is likely to miss the October 2008 deadline as petitions against it are still pending in courts and only 25% of the work has been completed

As per report, the project aims to create a 167 kilometer long navigable channel to link the Gulf of Mannar with the Bay of Bengal through Adam's Bridge, Palk Bay and Palk Strait between India and neighboring Sri Lanka.

The Sethusamudram project was sanctioned in June 2005 and was the first major shipping infrastructure project Dr Manmohan Singh's PM government sanctioned after assuming office in April 2004.

At present ships cannot use the channel, partly because of the sand stone reef called Adam's bridge at Pamban near Rameswaram, where the depth of the sea is hardly 11 feet. When completed, the channel will save nearly 424 nautical miles or 785 kilometer and around 30 hours of sailing time for ships navigating between India's east and west coasts.

BL reported that NHPC Limited has sought the help of the Sikkim Government for expeditious completion of 2 mega power projects undertaken by it in the State. The matter was taken up by Mr SK Garg chairman & MD of NHPC when he called upon the Mr BP Singh Governor and the Mr Pawan Chamling CM of Sikkim.

During his meeting with Mr Garg CM mentioned about the delays in the 520 MW Teesta Stage IV in east Sikkim and the 210 MW Lachen hydro power project in north Sikkim. Both the projects are in the initial stages of execution.

NHPC sought the help of the Sikkim Government for speedy completion of balance investigation works to obtain early Techno Economic and other statutory clearances.

According to a press, the Mr Garg assured to look into the matter. During the meetings, Mr Garg also discussed the power scenario, particularly the hydro power development in the country as well as in Sikkim.

The NHPC has assured the State Government that it will continue to take care of local interests and assist the State Government in other developmental and welfare works.

BL reported that NHPC Limited is to soon set its footprints in Myanmar. According to Mr SK Garg chairman & MD of NHPC, it will be signing MoUs with the Myanmar Government next week for developing 2 power projects totaling to 1,800 MW as JV 1,200 MW Tamanthy and 600 MW Shwzaya projects. This will be the second foreign presence for NHPC after Bhutan.

He said that referring to the corporation’s revenue position, NHPC posted 33% increase in profit in 2007-08 on a net profit of INR 1,004 crore and paid INR 300 crore dividend to the Union Government.

He added that the growth had been significant in the Q1 of 2008-09. Mr Garg asserted that NHPC was not diversifying into any other venture now as hydro business held out immense potential in India and its neighboring countries.

PTI reported that Foreign institutional investors, Goldman Sachs and Intercontinental Exchange have been asked to bring down their combined holdings to 10% by June 2009.

Mr R Ramaseshan chairman & MD of NCDEX said that as per government stipulations, no FII can hold more than 5% in any commodity stock exchange in the country. He said that "This has been already informed to the two investors."

In the case of NCDEX, Goldman Sachs held 7% while the other FII had 8% with their combined holdings touching 15%. The other promoters of NCDEX were NSE, Canara Bank, IFFCO, Nabard and Punjab National Bank.

Mr Ramaseshan said that asked whether NCDEX would make an IPO to provide an exit route to the two FIIs, he added that there were no such plans at the moment, the exit price would be determined by the promoters. Daily turnover of the commodity exchange is around INR 2,500 crore.

It is reported that US Steel breaks ground on state of the art coke expansion. The new coke facility will include 120 heat recovery ovens capable of producing approximately 650,000 tons of screened blast furnace coke per year, which will be sold to US Steel under a 15 year contract. Ground was broken on May 5th 2008 and the construction project is expected to last upwards of 18 months. This was hardly a small potato shovel in the earth event.

Mr John Goodish executive VP & COO of US Steel said that "This significant new investment demonstrates US Steel's commitment to environmental stewardship, highlights our commitment to Granite City and the surrounding communities, and helps ensure that our entire company remains well positioned in an increasingly competitive global industry."

The impact upon the Granite City Community and Southern Illinois in general is significant. More than 900 construction jobs will be at the peak, and many brand new permanent jobs are created. The US Steel plant in Granite City has been a landmark for a business that was founded in 1878 and is 130 years old. Its closest rival by age is Anheuser Busch Inc, which was founded slightly earlier in 1876.

Mr Sharon Owens GM of US Steel plant in Granite City said that "This is a big step forward to assure the economic viability of our future."

The project, on the north side of Highway 203 in Granite City will sit on 41 redeveloped acres. The modern, state of the art cogenerative coke conversion ovens will replace 10 aged boilers at US Steel that will be taken offline once construction is complete.

Platts reported that European Commission has extended its suspension of a definitive antidumping duty on imports of silicomanganese from China and Kazakhstan until September 6th 2009.

It may be noted that in December 2007, the EC imposed a definitive antidumping duty on imports of silicomanganese originating in the China and Kazakhstan at a rate of the 8.2% and 6.5%, respectively.

The duties were suspended for a period of nine months, with effect from December 6, 2007, under EU regulations which allow for antidumping measures to be suspended on the grounds that market conditions have temporarily changed to an extent that injury would be unlikely to resume as a result of such suspension, provided that the EU industry has been given an opportunity to comment and these comments have been taken into account.

Following the initial suspension of the antidumping duties, EC said that it had continued to monitor the developments on the market, in particular with regard to the flow of imports and the prices of silicomanganese. On the basis of the information gathered, it was established that market prices of silicomanganese on the EU market continued to be relatively high and significantly higher than during the original investigation period of July 1st 2005 through June 30th 2006.

EC said that a continuous increase can be observed from the third quarter of year 2006 with an average price of EUR 622 per tonne, through an average of EUR 1,051 per tonne in the third quarter of 2007 and an average EUR 1,189 per tonne in the first quarter of 2008.

As regards imports, the market share of imports of silicomanganese originating in China and Kazakhstan increased only marginally by 0.2 percentage points to 10% of the overall EU consumption and remained below their respective market share during the original investigation period (10.4%), while overall EU consumption remained stable, around 20% higher than during the original investigation period.

Meanwhile, the situation of the EU industry improved in comparison with the original investigation period, with sales and production volumes increasing by 15% and 19%, respectively, and profitability reaching 42% in the third quarter of 2007.

The EC stressed, however, that it would continue monitoring the market situation and reserved the right to reinstate the duties if increased volumes at dumped prices of the product concerned from China and Kazakhstan resume and consequently cause injury to the EU industry.

Sims Group UK Limited, part of the Sims Group, has completed the acquisition of metal recycler C Herring & Son Limited. The acquisition is a continuation of Sims’ strategy to expand the geographical reach of its metals business, creating a regional hub in the north east of the country.

The acquired business operates from a 6 acre site, which also houses an Authorized Treatment Facility for the de pollution and disposal of end of life vehicles.

Mr Tom Bird MD of Sims Group UK said that "We are delighted with this acquisition and look forward to welcoming the team from C. Herring and Son into the Sims business. The north of England, and particularly the North East region, is an area of the country where we have been keen to strengthen our foothold. This purchase is part of our ongoing strategy to secure source tonnage and the location of the C Herring & Son facility offers Sims a great platform on which to build. We now have a regional hub in the North East ideally placed to help Sims expand further into the region."

Mr Paul O'Malley CFO of BlueScope Steel said that iron ore prices could flatten next year. He added that the hefty price of coking coal is likely to keep the steel maker’s costs under pressure.

Mr O'Malley said that commodities remained expensive, however prices for iron ore could soften. He added that "I was talking to some analysts in the last few days and they've gone from it being 20 per cent up to maybe flat so the perception of higher prices is coming down a bit. It is really hard to see but I suspect there's more flat line than up at the moment."

But Mr O'Malley said even if iron ore became cheaper the steel maker’s other raw material costs, along with energy and labor costs, were likely to remain high. He added that any relief in the iron ore price was likely to be particularly offset by the price of coking coal, which has tripled this year to about USD 300 a tonne.