Tata Steel service centre in UK

Tata Steel opens UK's largest plate service centre TATA Steel has today opened the UK’s largest profiling centre for steel plate in the West Midlands, increasing its plate processing capacity in the region by up to 50 per cent. The new Profiling Centre, at Steelpark in Wednesfield, transforms steel plate into a multitude of shaped and machined components, from high-volume production runs for off-road vehicle wheels and booms for earth-moving equipment, to large one-off components for construction projects and specialist engineering applications. The...

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Spot iron ore prices

Spot iron ore holds near 5 month low Reuters reported that spot iron ore prices stayed near their weakest level in more than five months, reflecting slow demand from top importer China where steel mills are in no rush to snap up cargoes amid a soft market. Chinese iron ore futures bounced back slightly after plumbing a fresh contract low and Shanghai steel edged up but not far above a record trough reached last week. According to data compiled by Steel Index, ore with 62% iron content for immediate delivery to China .IO62-CNI=SI was little changed...

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World's largest steel trader

Lenders extend Stemcor debt standstill to end-Feb Reuters reported that Lenders to Stemcor, formerly the world's largest steel trader, have extended its debt standstill agreement to the end of February, allowing it more time to restructure a USD 1.25 billion debt. The private British firm, controlled by members of the Oppenheimer family which includes opposition Labour Party lawmaker Mr Margaret Hodge is under pressure to sell its iron ore assets in India in order to repay its debt. The assets, which include an iron ore mine and processing facilities...

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US challenges China

US challenges China non compliance in WTO CRGO steel dispute Mr Michael Froman US Trade Representative announced that the United States is requesting that China enter into consultations regarding China's claim that it has brought its duties on US exports of grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) into compliance with WTO rules. AK Steel Corporation, based in Ohio, and Allegheny Ludlum, based in Pennsylvania, manufacture GOES. China's actions cut off more than USD 250 million in exports of this high tech steel product and in 2012 the...

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Valuation of Indian iron ore

Valuation of Indian iron ore assets of Stemcor falls - Report Financial Express reported that Stemcor India, which had put up its assets in India for sale since September, has seen its valuations tumble to almost 50% of what was earlier quoted when the asset was first put on the block. According to sources in companies currently looking at buying the assets, their current value is being pegged at not more than INR 3,500 to 4,000 crore or roughly in the range of USD 600 million, against an earlier estimated figure of USD 1 to 1.2 billion. This...

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Chinese steel rebar

Chinese steel rebar futures at SHFE clings to contract lows Chinese steel futures drifted to near contract lows on Thursday, as poor demand in the world's top consumer weighed on prices. The most-traded May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended 0.2 percent lower at 3,456 yuan a tonne, not far from a low of 3,449 yuan hit on Wednesday, its weakest since the contract was launched in April 2009. Slower demand and tougher environmental checks have forced steel mills in the world's biggest producer to cut output significantly, easing...

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Coal Imports into India

Coal Imports into India cross 140 million tonne mark in 2013 Based on preliminary data from major ports, imports of various types of coal and coke into India during 2013 have totalled 141.509 million tonnes While thermal coal import, estimated at 107.8 million tonnes, accounted for about 76%, coking coal import is estimated at about 30.7 million tonnes. The other products like met coke, pet coke and coke nut accounted for about 2% Australia remained the top supplier of coking coal with about 84% share. For thermal coal Indonesia was the major...

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SAIL hikes prices per tone

SAIL hikes prices by INR 700 a tonne for both longs and flat Business Line reported that Indian steel giant Steel authority of India Limited has hiked the prices of both flat and long steel products by Rs 500-700 a tonne for January sales and shipments. Me CS Verma chairman of SAIL told ““The demand is slightly picking up. There are signs of revival in the market.” But he cautioned that “The expected slowdown in the Government spending in the months ahead of the general elections could be a limiting factor.” (www.steelguru.c...

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Secondary steel sector in India

Now you can reach secondary steel sector in India The Indian steel sector is besotted with thousands of small players manufacturing sponge iron, producing ingots and rolling TMT and variety of sections accounting for more than 50% of crude steel production in India But such a large number of plants are facing severe headwinds due to raw material availability at high prices, sluggish demand growth for long products amid surplus rolling capacity and quality issues because of technological disadvantages. While many have shut the shop, others are...

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Indian steel consumption

Indian steel consumption growth is almost nil in last 9 months According to latest release from Indian steel ministry’s Joint Plant Committee, India’s total steel consumption grew by just 0.5% YoY to 53.789 million tonnes during April-December 2013 as against 53.52 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2012-13. Consumption of carbon steel during the current year amounted to 51.22 million tonnes up by 2.2%YoY while alloy steel consumption dipped by massive 25% YoY to 2.547 million tonnes As per JPC data, production for sale of the total...

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Steel reinforcement-bar futures fell in Shanghai

Rebar declines in Shanghai after biggest producers lower prices Bloomberg reported that steel reinforcement-bar futures fell in Shanghai, set for a fourth weekly loss, after the biggest steel producers across China cut prices amid slowing demand. Rebar for May delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped as much as 1.2% to CNY 3,546 (USD 586) a metric tonne, and was at CNY 3,550 at 10:38 AM local time. Futures are down 1.8% this week. Jiangsu Shagang Co the biggest maker of rebar, lowered prices by CNY 130 a tonne starting January 1, while...

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Anti industry group

Anti industry group to continue struggle in Kalinga Nagar New Indian Express reported that people of Kalinga Nagar observed Saheed Divas marking the 8th anniversary of the Kalinga Nagar firing incident which claimed lives of 14 tribals including three women. While the anti industry groups assembled at Ambagadia, where the tribals killed in the police firing were mass cremated, pro industrialisation group, led by those who have been rehabilitated by TATA Steel, held a parallel meeting at Gobarghati colony. Around 2000 members of Visthapan Virodhi...

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China Steel Corp one of Taiwan's leading steel makers

CSC February capacity fully booked China Steel Corp one of Taiwan's leading steel makers, said Saturday that its production capacity for February is fully booked due to solid demand from its clients in the downstream steel industry. Judging from the backlog of orders, China Steel said its shipments for February are expected to remain steady compared with a shipment of approximately 1.02 million metric tonnes for January. However, due to the fewer number of working days in January as a result of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, shipments...

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Monday Market Monitor

India - WEEK 01 - Flats Flutter Longs Languish The Indian Long Product Price Index ILPPI has gone down by 26 points last week whereas Indian Flat Products Index IFPPI has gone up by 63 points. The overall price index INDSPI declined by 29 points. In case of long products, while the sections faced weak conditions, wire rod remained stable. However, the rebar prices improved by more than 1% the reasons for which are quite not clear. Nothing has changed on the ground and construction projects are continuing to face severe liquidity issues....

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Hyundai Steel invest KRW 844.2 billion towards construction of a new plant

Hyundai Steel plans KRW 844.2 billion investment in new plant South Korea's Hyundai Steel Co announced its plans to invest KRW 844.2 billion towards construction of a new plant in the western coastal area of the country. The plant will deal in production of next-generation special steel. Completion of the facility is expected by October 2015. A division of Hyundai Motor Group, Hyundai Steel, will be responsible for the construction of the new plant in Dangjin, nearly 123 kilometers southwest of Seoul. (www.steelguru.c...

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Crude steel production at 1.16 MT in Dec.’13

SAIL posts 14% rise in sales in December SAIL registered a growth of 14% in sales of saleable steel at 1.13 million tonnes in the month of December’2013, as against the same month last year. Crude steel production at 1.16 MT in Dec.’13 was up by 7% over SMLY. On techno-economic front, Coke rate and energy consumption improved by 1% each in the month of December’2013 over SMLY. The upward trend in performance in the last couple of months is an outcome of concerted efforts directed at sales improvement in both domestic and international market....

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Indian steel mills

Indian steel mills compulsion unlikely to be understood by market Expected price hike by INR 1000-1500 per tonne by Indian mills if not surprising but is likely to go unnoticed by market which is teetering in the peak of season. Badly emaciated by credit starvation despite all the hullaballoo has never really shown any semblance of revival. In solo performance by the Indian mills being patted by its own band of marketers the truth has looked starker with repeated failure in demand and production. Meager 0.4 % growth in steel consumption over...

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US steel imports

US steel imports decrease in November -AISI Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported that the US imported a total of 2,584,000 net tons of steel in November, including 1,906,000 net tons of finished steel (down 16.7% and 16.2%, respectively, vs. October final data). Year to date total and finished steel imports are 29,636,000 and 22,933,000 net tons respectively, down 4% and 5% respectively, vs. 2012. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2013 would be 32.3 and 25.0 million NT, down 3% each,...

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Chinese flats suppliers

Chinese flats suppliers eying for recovery before the Spring Festival Despite gloom writ large in Chinese steel market despair is the last word in the global depository of steel. Churning out volumes in the worst of times is miracle witnessed only in China and the hope for revival never dies. Chinese economy despite slothfulness has clocked nearly 7.6% GDP in 2013 way ahead of global lagers who have not been able reach half of it. Approaching Spring Festival in early February has traditionally been phase of heightened demand and activity before...

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Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited

Mr P Madhusudan takes over as RINL CMD Mr P Madhusudan, Director (Finance) assumed charge as The 9th Chairman cum Managing Director of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited on January 1st 2014 Mr Madhusudan joined RINL as Director (Finance) in 2009 and played a significant role in financial performance of the Company and pioneered in introducing of e - payments to the customers/suppliers which was widely acknowledged in the entire Indian Steel Industry. Mr Madhusudan will be at the helm of affairs at RINL for the next five years (www.steelguru.c...

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Indian steel mills hike prices

Indian steel mills hike prices for January shipments It is reported that some of the Indian steel mills, on the anticipated lines, have increased prices of various steel products by up to INR 1,000 a tonne to INR 2000 per tonne for different products. While they have cited higher costs of iron ore and increased railway freight charges (About INR 700 per tonne) as the driver for this decision, several other factors seem to have given them the courage to go for hike despite dismal demand conditions. In case of HR, the subdued imports due to unviable...

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