And while the steel industry is booming in the region due to the extraordinary number of major construction projects, there is a significant imbalance between supply and demand.

Consumption of steel in the Middle East is growing at a phenomenal rate.

By 2010 the region is expected to consume 60 million tonnes a year, while expected to only produce 35 million tonnes per year.

This massive imbalance between supply and demand therefore means that the business opportunities for those involved in the region’s steel sector is immense.

source: http://www.ameinfo.com/167645.html

But most analysts have suggested selling at current levels on expectations steel companies would refrain from raising prices and curtail exports to boost supplies in the local market.

“The government does not directly control steel prices but it looks like it has managed to convince steel makers not to raise prices this month,” an analyst in Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker Pvt Ltd, said.

Prices may edge up a little this week but in the medium term the market looks bearish and anyone holding long position may exit at current levels, Prakash Prabhu, Ventura Commodities Pvt Ltd, said. On July 31, India’s steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan said he had asked steelmakers not to increase steel prices in the ‘national interest’.

India is battling 13-year high inflation and steel prices are a major contributor.

Steel firms were expected to raise prices when a three-month moratorium on price increases ended last week, but chose to hold price, the steel secretary said last week.

There can be minor rise in prices but in the medium term the market should ease, the Bonanza Commodity analyst said.

Mild steel ingot futures <0#NST:> on NCDEX is the most traded product in the ferrous metal category in India.

Official data showed India’s steel consumption rose 10.7 percent in 20O7/08, while output growth was slower at 5.1 percent and the gap was met through 7.18 million tonnes of imports
Source:http://in.reuters.com

With the Supreme Court clearing the mining plans of Posco and Sterlite last Friday, following the green signal of a central empowered committee handling such cases, it is now Bhilai Steel’s turn at Friday hearings. This Friday being a holiday, Bhilai’s case is expected to be heard on August 22. Raghavachari Ramaraju, managing director of the Chhattisgarh-based plant, said he is hopeful about Rowghat. The plant’s current mines at Dalli Rajhara, 85km away, will be exhausted in four or five years.

“We expect that, with Posco’s and Sterlite’s case having been cleared by the Supreme Court…Ours will be coming up next and get the clearance,” said Ramaraju, who has been with Bhilai since joining it in 1972 as a graduate engineer. Rowghat, 180 km from Bhilai, has around 500 million tonne iron ore, which will last the plant 35-40 years at its expanded capacity.

“Dalli Rajhara is depleting fast and we are trying to stretch it to the maximum, but it won’t last us more than another four and a half years maximum,” he said. Bhilai Steel was set up in the middle of nowhere only because of the iron ore reserves, and its location makes imports or even supplies from other SAIL mines uneconomical. It gets Dalli Rajhara ore at Rs 600-650 per tonne, and imports will cost ten times more. “We can’t afford to buy from anywhere else, and at the same time there is no source which can give me the ore,” he said, pointing out that the NMDC Ltd mines nearby are fully booked. “That is precisely the point we are stressing, that an established unit will not have any linkages,” he said. He said, SAIL’s own raw materials division is already finding it difficult to feed the existing plants.

Bhilai is the only SAIL plant that has its own iron ore mines, apart from ISP, the recently acquired Indian Iron & Steel Plant.

source:http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews

Firms in the world’s fifth-largest steel producing nation have been battling soaring costs of key inputs like iron ore and coal, but have been holding prices since May to help rein in double-digit inflation, which crossed 12 percent in late July.

“The government had initiated a number of fiscal measures to check prices and steel companies had agreed to hold prices and restrain exports. They have now agreed to hold prices further,” Rastogi said.

Officials of Tata Steel Ltd (TISC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), JSW Steel Ltd (JSTL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Ispat Industries Ltd (ISPT.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday they would hold prices in August, even as the self-imposed moratorium ended.

But some company officials said they would review the situation next month. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Mayank Bhardwaj, Editing by Mark Williams)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSDEL4262020080808

“Our margins are not good,” he said, even as steel secretary R S Pandey noted that profit margins for some producers were as high as 20% in June.

Refusing to name any company, Pandey said, “The range of profit margins is as wide as 15-45% for different companies.” But Muthuraman maintained that steel prices in India were Rs 15,000-20,000 lower than international prices despite rising input costs. “I have seen consumer prices rising disproportionately to steel prices,” he said, adding that the benefits of low steel prices here hadn’t reached end users.

Steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that profits of domestic steel producers have risen despite hike in raw material costs. He said steel price hike has been higher than rise in cost of production.

“If I tell mediapersons that steel prices have risen because of higher input costs, they will ask me why this hike is higher than that in input costs,” Paswan said. He urged steel producers to monitor the prices themselves.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1178008

As a turnkey contract, Corus Process Engineering’s responsibilities include the complete design, equipment supply, installation and commissioning of the modified bloom caster.

Corus Process Engineering will lead the project, with its consortium partner TATA Projects, handling some of the design, indigenous equipment sourcing and installation work.

Mr Brian Stalker international sales manager for Corus Process Engineering said that “The contract suits Corus Process Engineering’s skill sets entirely and includes supply of new moulds and top zones, mould oscillators and mould table, Tundish car frames, modified strand guide segments and enhanced secondary cooling spray systems. Corus Process Engineering is also responsible for replacing the process control and an automation system associated with the caster, as well as electrical works, including new electric motors and cabling.”

The number 2 bloom caster is one of six identical casters at RINL’s steel plant, which all share a common casting floor.

Source: www.steelguru.com

This report critically looks at the current situation in the industry, potential of the iron ore market growth in the medium term, growth plans of the individual major companies, demand and supply issues related to raw materials like coal and iron ore, competitive positioning of steel production in the country, socio economic and political factors which may have direct and indirect impact on the growth dreams of the Indian steel makers, etc among a large number of other relevant issues of strategic importance.

This report is the product of extensive and in depth analysis with incredible amount of time spent to put the numbers in perspective. There are neutral and frank expert views on matters which have drawn attention of the industry in the recent period.

The phenomenal rise in iron ore prices and their continued shortages worldwide have raised many important questions on the future of the iron and steel industry globally especially in the context of the changing dynamics in the environment surrounding especially in respect of raw materials to this industry. The steel makers are undergoing a phase of uncertainty, volatility and speculation amidst a supply side crisis looming large over raw materials, importantly iron ore and coking coal.

The Indian story is no different. A country having over 25 billion tonnes of officially declared iron ore resources and producing over 210 million tonnes of them annually and exporting nearly 95 million tonnes of them is important from all angles to the world of iron ore business.

Source: www.steelguru.com

Mr SK Mahapatra GM at POSCO India said that “There is a possibility of iron ore requirement coming ahead of our captive mining operations. In this situation, the state government has agreed to make the iron ore required available.”

It may be noted that land disputes and delays in allocating mining licenses have stopped POSCO from proceeding with potentially the biggest overseas investment in India. It is yet to begin building the 12 million tonnes steel plant in Orissa state. Work was scheduled to start in April 2007.

Initially, POSCO will build a 4 million tonnes steel plant and set up a 400 MW power plant.

Source: www.steelguru.com

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Furthur, the annealing furnace is automatic and controled through PLC, with provision to use 100% Htdrogen as protective gas.

This gives the best spherodization and as a result uniform and excellent heat treatment of the end component.

We have sucessfully achieved the thickness of .05mm and are trying to make .025mm

Tata Steel has already raised hot-rolled coil prices twice this year and cold-rolled coil prices once, and smaller firms such as JSW Steel, Bhushan Steel, Ispat Industries and Essar Steel have followed suit.

“If you take $700 (per tonne) as the base, prices are going to go up by 20-25 percent.”

After Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan expressed concern over prices earlier this month, steel makers agreed to cut prices on some products by up to $25 per tonne, but the cuts are unlikely to be sustained.

Iron ore prices are rising internationally. Brazilian mining giant Vale secured price rises of 65 percent and higher for the iron ore it sells to major Asian steel mills.

                                                                                    Source: www.reuters.com

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Stelco’s most attractive operation is its Lake Erie mill at Nanticoke, Ontario, which completed a renovation and expansion late last year at a cost of 270 million Canadian dollars ($252 million). While Mr. Mott has been working to reduce costs, the company’s much older traditional base of operations at its headquarters in Hamilton, Ontario, is unprofitable.

Over all, Stelco reported a net loss of 39 million Canadian dollars in the first quarter of this year and a net loss of 145 million Canadian dollars in the preceding quarter.

As part of its restructuring, Stelco agreed to make up, over 10 years, a pension shortfall of 675 million Canadian dollars. The company is also carrying about 738 million Canadian dollars in debt.

The company has long had a strained relationship with the United Steelworkers union. That situation has only been made worse by recent job reductions in Hamilton.

Stelco declined to comment beyond its statement, which did not identify the potential buyers. But the trend toward steel industry consolidation suggests that any new owner will not be Canadian.

Severstal of Russia, which owns a former Ford steel mill in Dearborn, Mich., tried to acquire Stelco during its restructuring.

Brookfield Asset Management of Toronto is Stelco’s largest shareholder, with about 36 percent of its stock. It did not respond to requests for comment

          Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/business/worldbusiness/02steel.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

We wish you a prosperous 2008.

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