After the success of ultra mega power projects in the power sector, the government is planning to launch a similar scheme in the steel sector to boost steel production capacity in the country to meet growing demand.
According to a report, the Ministry of Steel in co-operation with state governments will initially identify four to five locations closer to the iron ore mining sites for developing ultra mega steel projects (UMSP). The minimum capacity of an UMSP will be 10 million ton (MT) and it will be offered to both public and private sector companies under a competitive bidding process.
“The plan for UMSP has already been discussed in the inter-ministerial group set up to accelerate the development of steel projects in the country. We are taking views of all stakeholders after which a formal proposal will be finalised for implementation,” an official of the steel ministry said.
An initial draft being considered by the steel ministry has suggested a model, similar to ultra mega power project (UMPP) scheme in the power sector. Under it, the central government in collaboration with state governments will create necessary infrastructure for the mega steel project such as getting clearances for the project and assure raw material linkage in the form of coal and iron ore mining loses. Bids will then be invited from companies and the successful company will be handed over the project for development within a specified period of time.
“It's a great idea from the point of view of the industry. Through the bidding route, the government will be able to do away with unnecessary delays and hurdles that are attached with standalone greenfield steel projects. But before implementing it, a lot of details will have to be worked out from getting regulatory approvals for deciding the project's value.” a Delhi-based steel sector analyst said.
“Only with the early execution and support of several authorities concerned will the government be able to make a difference,” Ispat Industries director (finance) Anil Surekha said.
Steel industry is grappling with severe land acquisition problems and raw material security issues currently, which need to be resolved to ensure future growth of the industry. If the government manages to overcome these hurdles, UMSP could be seen as an alternative, Surekha said.
The government's proposal aims to give a fresh impetus to creation of greenfield steel capacity. Fresh or greenfield expansion has become a problem because of the land and other issues in states, such as Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Tata Steel has put on hold its plans to set up a 12 MT per annum integrated steel plant in Jharkhand and a 6 MT unit in Orissa. The much-famed plan of ArcelorMittal of setting up massive steel plants in India, announced in 2005, is now looking dispirited.
India has a set a target of 120 MT of steel production by 2012, which will be largely met through brownfield expansion. India is the only country that has got over the economic meltdown of last year registering a positive growth in steel production this year. The demand for steel is also growing here in the double digits fearing concerns that unless new capacity comes up at fast pace, the country could become a dumping ground for steel.

India's steel consumption rose by 8.1 percent to 35.97 million tons in the April-November period of this fiscal over the same period a year ago on improved demand from automobile and consumer durables sector.
The steel consumption in the April-November 2008 stood at 33.27 million tons, according to the provisional data obtained from the Steel Ministry. However, the domestic steel production rose only by 3 percent to 38.57 million tons in the reporting period against 37.45 million tons in the year-ago period.
The deficit was met by 11 percent increase in steel imports to 4.58 million tons and 39.4 percent decline in exports to 1.78 million tons, as per the provisional data released by the ministry.
Leading steel producers like Tata Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam reported 5.6 percent growth to 3.25 million tons and 1.2 percent increase to 1.86 million tons respectively in April-November period over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Steel Authority of India, however, reported 6.63 million tons production in the period, static as in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
As far as steel production for the month of November is concerned, it increased by 3.2 percent to 5 million tons over the year-ago period. The consumption saw an increase by 7.6 per cent to 4.66 million tons as per the provisional data for the month as compared to November 2008.

India's steel consumption rose by 8.1 percent to 35.97 million tons in the April-November period of this fiscal over the same period a year ago on improved demand from automobile and consumer durables sector.
The steel consumption in the April-November 2008 stood at 33.27 million tons, according to the provisional data obtained from the Steel Ministry. However, the domestic steel production rose only by 3 percent to 38.57 million tons in the reporting period against 37.45 million tons in the year-ago period.
The deficit was met by 11 percent increase in steel imports to 4.58 million tons and 39.4 percent decline in exports to 1.78 million tons, as per the provisional data released by the ministry.
Leading steel producers like Tata Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam reported 5.6 percent growth to 3.25 million tons and 1.2 percent increase to 1.86 million tons respectively in April-November period over the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Steel Authority of India, however, reported 6.63 million tons production in the period, static as in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
As far as steel production for the month of November is concerned, it increased by 3.2 percent to 5 million tons over the year-ago period. The consumption saw an increase by 7.6 per cent to 4.66 million tons as per the provisional data for the month as compared to November 2008.

The government of Karnataka invited South Korean steel major POSCO to build a mill, its second planned factory in India.
“A team from Posco has visited the state,” Posco spokesman Saroj Kumar Mohapatra said.
The southern state of India is seeking overseas investment. The state has invited global steelmakers including POSCO and the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal to set up their projects in the state. The both steel giants have been facing difficulties in acquiring land and iron ore mines for their proposed plants in the eastern part of India.
The world's No. 4 steelmaker had announced in June 2005 it plans to set up a $12 billion steel plant in Orissa, while ArcelorMittal also had came to set up a $10 billion plant in Jharkhand and similar sized unit in Orissa was pledged in 2006.
Both companies are yet to begin work on these plants.
“We are committed to the Orissa project and want to begin construction as soon as possible,” Mohapatra said.
India's steel demand may rise as much as 10 percent this fiscal year, almost double the pace previously estimated, as the government spends more on infrastructure, according to the steel ministry. Demand grew by about 7 percent in the first six months of the financial year that ends March 31.
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is considering setting up a 6 million metric ton steel plant in the southern state of Karnataka, it said on Nov. 23.

Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation's biggest state-run producer, plans to build a 10 million metric ton steel mill in expectation of beating ArcelorMittal for the rights to control the nation's biggest iron ore reserves.
According to a report, sites for a plant to exploit the Chiria deposit in Jharkhand state are being shortlisted, Chairman S.K. Roongta said, without specifying the cost or timeframe.
Steel Authority, which won back the right to half of the 2 billion deposit last month, is battling ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel Ltd. and JSW Steel Ltd. for control of the rest of Chiria. The deposit, with iron content of as much as 65 percent, according to the steel ministry, was stripped from a Steel Authority unit in 2005 because it hadn't developed the block.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, which plans to invest $20 billion to set up two 12 million ton crude steel plants in India, is vying with Steel Authority to win the Chiria rights for its planned Jharkhand plant, Vijay Kumar Bhatnagar, head of the Indian unit of ArcleorMittal, said.

India needs to double its steel production from the current 55 million tons in five years if it wants to bridge the demand-supply gap, said Minister of State for Steel Prathap Annayyagari .
“During the last five years, the growth in the demand for steel has averaged to around 10 percent. To meet this growing demand, the steel sector has to double its production in the next five years,” Annayyagari said in a conference.
The country has to further increase the steel output to 200 million tons by 2020, he added.
The difference between current per capita consumption of steel of 47 kg and the world average of 190 kg could be bridged if the rural demand was met, the minister said.

Tata Steel will start constructing a 6-million-ton steel plant in the eastern state of Orissa from December, H.M. Nerurkar, Managing Director of the company said.
"Eighty percent of the people have already been evacuated from the site and we hope to start the construction by December 2009," he added. He also said the firm, the world's sixth-biggest steelmaker, will conclude expansion of its Jamshedpur plant by June-August 2011.
Tata Steel, which operates a quarter of its 30 million tons annual capacity in India, is already working on raising domestic capacity to 10 million tons from 6.8 million.

Essar Steel has completed the acquisition of steel assets of Shree Precoated Steels Limited. This facility has since become part of Essar Steel.
This acquisition will make Essar Steel the most versatile flat steel producer with integrated facilities from heavy plates, hot rolling, cold rolling, galvanizing and colour coating, with a full distribution business with Service Centre and Steel Hypermarts. This is only plant in India that uses NIR (near infra red) technology for colour coating which extends the life of the product.
The colour coated products from this plant is well accepted both in the domestic and export market with exports accounting for 80 percent of its production. The domestic market for colour coated products is growing at over 30 percent due to increasing urbanization. Essar Steel will utilize its network of Service Centres and Hypermarts as a distribution channel to market the products from this plant.
Commenting on the acquisition, Malay Mukherjee, CEO, Essar Steel said, “it is important for the steel companies to widen the product base. This acquisition is aimed at achieving that objective. We will be able to capitalize on the synergies offered by this plant through technical expertise of Essar Steel.”
The assets that have been acquired include the plant comprising colour coating line (annual capacity 4, 00,000 tons), cold rolling mill (annual capacity of 6, 00,000 tonnes), galvanizing line (annual capacity of 500,000 tons) and pickling line (annual capacity 650,000 tons). The plant is strategically located at Sanaswadi near Pune, Maharashtra, which is one of the largest steel consuming centres.
The total value of the fixed and current assets acquired is about Rs. 1200 crores. This is funded through a mix of debt and equity. With the completion of this acquisition, Essar Steel will have the largest cold rolling capacity (2 Million tons), the largest Colour Coating facilities (0.4 million tons), galavanising capacity of 1.0 million tons and pickling capacity of 2.2 million tons in the country.

JSW Steel Ltd., India's third- biggest producer, may spend $500 million buying coal mines overseas to secure supplies for its local expansion. The company is seeking mines in nations including Australia and South Africa, Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said. JSW Steel plans to source half of its coal overseas, he said.
Indian steelmakers are expanding as local demand is expected to grow by about 10 percent in the second half of this financial year. JSW Steel is looking at new locations after failing to find coking coal at its exploration project in Mozambique.
The company plans to raise capacity by more than 33 percent to 10 million metric tons at its Vijayanagar plant in South India by 2011 as demand from customers including Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and GMR Group increases, Jindal added. Later, JSW aims to build a mill in West Bengal state with an initial 3 million ton capacity, he said.
Prices of steelmaking materials including coking coal and iron ore surged in the past five years because of rising demand from China, the biggest producer of steel. India's steel imports, climbing as much as 20 percent annually, will “rise sharply” as securing land and mines for new ventures has become very difficult, Jindal said.
Land disputes and delays in allocating mining licenses have prevented companies, including JSW and ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest producer, from starting mills in India. JSW announced a 10 million ton plant in Jharkhand in 2005 and a similar sized mill in neighboring West Bengal the next year. It hasn't started construction of either.
The eastern states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, which hold 70 percent of India's coal reserves and 55 percent of its iron ore, have attracted project proposals from global steelmakers including ArcelorMittal and South Korea's Posco. To overcome local hurdles, Jindal invested in iron ore mines in Chile and expects about 3 million tons of supplies from the South American mines in 2011, he said.
“We want to secure at least 45 percent of our iron ore requirement from own mines,” he said. The government should consider capping Indian iron exports to increase the supply available locally, he said.

Tata Steel Ltd, through its subsidiary Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings, is setting up a JV with New Millennium Capital Corp for development of the Direct Shipment Ore project in Canada.
The feasibility study for the DSO project is underway based upon which Tata Steel may make its investment decision within 180 days from completion. The JV agreement envisages formation of a JVC upon closing of the transaction. TATA Steel will fund 100 percent of the project cost up to CAD 300 million for an 80 percent equity stake in the JV Company with New Millennium holding the remainder.
Based on historical estimates that are not in compliance with NI 43-101, the project contains a resource of about 100 million tons of direct shipping quality ore. New Millennium expects to produce 4 million tons per annum of iron ore products from the project.
Subject to completion of a positive feasibility study, regulatory approvals and project financing, the DSO project is expected to start initial production in the second quarter of 2011. Tata Steel will have 100 percent offtake rights.

India's steel demand grew 7 percent in the first seven months of the fiscal year up to October, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said, spurred by the needs of makers of cars and appliances and builders of rural homes. Demand for some products rose 9 percent in the same period, he said. The minister gave no further details.
Increasing demand for automobiles, refrigerators and air conditioners and rising farm income are boosting steel sales in India, the world's second fastest-growing major economy. The nation's industrial production in September rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to a report.
Steel consumption rose 5.7 percent to 26.49 million metric tons in the six months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, former steel secretary Pramod Rastogi had said.
The World Steel Association, comprising about 180 steelmakers, said that the emerging economies of China and India will rebound faster than developed nations.
India's steel demand may gain as much as 10 percent this fiscal year, almost double the pace previously estimated, as the government spends more on infrastructure, Rastogi said in June.

P Madhusudan has assumed charge as director finance of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited.
Madhusudan was born on May 9th 1958 at Arepalli in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. He graduated in BCom during 1975-78 and secured 10th rank in Andhra University. Madhusudan qualified as Chartered Accountant in 1982 with 42nd rank in India, qualified for ICWA in 1984 and later was qualified as company secretary in 1986
Madhusudan started his career as junior manager finance in Bhilai Steel Plant in 1983. After serving Bhilai Steel Plant for 24 years in various capacities, he moved to IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur as GM finance. At IISCO, Burnpur he was actively associated with modernization of plant.

The country's largest private sector steel maker by domestic capacity JSW Steel's production rose by 34 percent to 4.53 lakh tons in October on account of robust demand.
The company's crude steel production in October 2008 was 3.38 lakh tons, the steel maker said in a statement.
The output in October, however, was lower than that of September 2009, as "unprecedented and incessant rains" disrupted operations of its plant in Karnataka, it said. "The production for October 2009 was lower sequentially due to unprecedented and incessant rains followed by floods in the southern part of India during the first week of the month disrupting the plant operations at Vijayanagar," it said, adding the plant is now operating normally.
Production of flat-rolled items, mainly used by auto and consumer durable industry, rose by 19 per cent to 2.96 lakh tons in October. JSW Steel produced 2.48 lakh tons of flat products in the same month last year. Production of long-rolled steel products, primarily used by the construction sector, surged 145 per cent to 75,000 tons in the reporting month against the output of 30,000 tons a year ago.
JSW Steel, earlier this year, enhanced the capacity of its Vijaynagar plant to 6.8 million tons and is hopeful of achieving a 70-72 percent jump in output in 2009-10.

Orissa government is actively working to remove the hurdles coming in the way of the POSCO's Rs 54,000 crore mega steel plant project in Orissa so that it may get off the ground by January 2010.
P. K. Rastogi, former steel secretary said, “Orissa government is actively working to remove hurdles in the path of POSCO's proposed 12 million tons per annum project so that the company can have the groundbreaking ceremony in next 2-3 months, may be by January end. As per report, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is likely to visit POSCO's proposed plant site in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa, may attend the ceremony. Myung-bak is scheduled to visit India as a guest for the Republic Day in January.

Steel Authority of India Limited announced that appointment of Punkaj Kumar Bajaj as the new Managing Director of SAIL's Durgapur Steel Plant with effect from November 1st 2009.
Bajaj took over charge from the outgoing MD V Shyamsundar in a ceremony held at Ispat Bhawan Durgapur Steel Plant on October 31st 2009.
Before taking over as MD of SAIL DSP, Bajaj was executive director operations and in charge, of Special Steels at SAIL Corporate Office.

TATA Metaliks Ltd has announced the consolidated financial results for the quarter ended September 30th 2009. As per release the company net sales / Income from operations was at Rs 2688.5 million for the quarter ended September 30th 2009 as compared to Rs 3045.3 million for quarter ended September 30th 2008.
The Net Profit / (Loss) for the quarter ended September 30th 2009 was at Rs 106.5 million as compared to Rs 114.3 million for the quarter ended September 30th 2008.

The state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said that it has reduced the price of its product used by the white goods and auto industry by Rs.500 per ton.
“We have further cut flat steel price by Rs.500 a ton because of softening global trend," SAIL chairman S.K. Roongta said, but asserted he didn't see the price falling further.
SAIL recently brought down prices of its flat steel products by Rs.750 to Rs.1, 500 a ton. After the latest reduction, prices will now be in the range of Rs.1, 250 and Rs.1, 500 per ton. Taking a cue from SAIL, private sector steel maker Tata Steel also reduced prices of its flat steel products.
However, there has been no change in the prices of long steel products.

NMDC Ltd, the public sector mining company, is all set to test the iron ore potential in Andhra Pradesh. The miner is in the process of forming a special purpose vehicle with the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) to explore the iron ore potential in the state. "We are likely to finalise the terms for an SPV by November 30. Once that is done and we finalise a plan to start exploration; it would take at least 12 months to come to a conclusion on the available reserves in the state," NMDC chairman and managing director Rana Som said.
Iron-ore mining in Andhra Pradesh has become a politically sensitive issue. Currently, the Congress-led government is in a fix over a lease granted to Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) of Karnataka's BJP leader Gali Janardhan Reddy.
With the opposition political parties alleging that the former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has an interest in OMC forcing the government to relax certain mining norms, the issue of iron ore mining has gained political significance. "We spoke directly to the chief minister (K Rosaiah). As far as we are concerned, there is no politics involved in the issue of joining hands with APMDC," Som said.
"There are several locations in AP, which are unexplored. Except one or two where OMC is currently working, there are other locations that have never been touched. We are going to focus on them to begin with," he said.
OMC's mines are currently located on AP-Karnataka border in Anantapur. Studies have shown there was significant iron ore potential in other districts such as Kadapa, Kurnool and Chittoor.

Tata Steel Limited and MMTC Limited signed an agreement to establish a 74:26 joint venture company for acquiring, development and operation of mines and processing of minerals and metals. The joint venture agreement was signed by Sanjiv Batra, Chairman and Managing Director, MMTC and H. M. Nerurkar, Managing Director, Tata Steel, in the presence of other senior executives from both the companies.
Steel production in India is projected to grow to over 120 million tons by the year 2015. To cater to the raw materials requirement of increasing steel demand and other mineral based industries, MMTC and Tata Steel have agreed to co-operate with each other and are executing this agreement for setting up a joint venture for the above purpose.
Tata Steel is one of the world's largest producers of iron and steel. Tata Steel has extensive experience in mining, processing of minerals / metals and in the operations of integrated steel plants. Tata Steel has vast experience of exploration, modelling, designing and operation of both underground and open cast mines producing various minerals.
MMTC, a Central PSU, is India's largest trading company. It is engaged in international trading of minerals, metals, precious metals, fertilizers, coal and hydrocarbons and agro commodities. MMTC, through its promoted company "Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Limited" has set up a 1.1 million ton integrated steel plant in the State of Orissa. One of MMTC's corporate objectives is to consolidate its position further as a leading international and domestic player with focus on minerals and metals. MMTC is also integrating vertically in related fields of infrastructure building by setting up iron ore loading facilities at ports of Ennore and Paradi.

The Centre will take a final call on the proposal for divesting stakes in SAIL and NMDC by December. Steel minister Virbhadra Singh said efforts would be made to sell a part of the government holding in SAIL by March 2010. The government is proposing a divestment of NMDC and Sail through a combination of issue of fresh equity and stake sale.
The minister said the Centre hopes to mobilise over Rs 14,000 crore through divestment of its stakes in SAIL and NMDC. Internal demand for steel has surpassed production growth, he added. India is expected to produce 60 million tons of steel in the current financial year and has set a target of 124 million tons by 2011-12. “It is always better to export value added product than ore,” Singh said.

The world's eighth-largest steelmaker by production Tata Steel cut the prices of flat steel products by 4 percent. The price cut took effect Nov. 1, said the company. However, the company did not change the prices of long products.
Other Indian steel majors, including Steel Authority of India and JSW Steel, cut flat steel product prices by 3-5 percent.
Tata Steel's Anglo-Dutch subsidiary Corus is currently operating at around 80 percent of capacity, B. Muthuraman Vice-Chairman, Tata Steel said. However, in the last week of October, the company had said that the Corus plants were running at 66 percent.
Corus' production could rise to 100 percent of capacity by the end of this fiscal year on March 31, 2010, as steel demand in Western Europe improves, Muthuraman said.

P.K. Bishnoi CMD of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited on inaugurated certain key works for the expanding the capacity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant from 3 million tonnes to 6.3 million tons. The CMD launched the electrical work in converter building, erection of ducting for de.

K. S. Shankar, Director (Finance) inaugurated trial run of first two conveyors of Raw Material Handling System, which will supply iron ore from stockyard to new Blast Furnace-3 under expansion plan of 6.3 MTPA of VSP. With this VSP achieves a new milestone in execution of its ongoing expansion plan.
The new advanced technologies being adopted in the new raw material handling system will be able to supply consistent and homogenous blend of raw materials to the new units of Sinter Plant, Blast Furnace and Steel Melt Shop. The total length of conveyors in RMHS is to the tune of 32kms. The quantities involved in RMHS are 1.2 lakh cum of concrete and 30,000 t of structural steel work and 15,000 t of equipment. The project cost is about Rs 650 Crores.
With the trial of RMHS conveyors, VSP has fulfilled the commitment of achieving the milestone as per MOU signed with Ministry of Steel. It is the first equipment to be commissioned in the 6.3 expansion of VSP. P.K. Bishnoi complimented the projects collective for fulfilling the milestone.
Y Manohar, Director (Personnel), Sri AP Choudhary, Director (Projects), senior officials of
VSP, Members of Steel Executive Association and Union Leaders were also present.

After half a century's development, Qinhuangdao Qinye Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Qinye, which is previously known as M/s QMMC) is now the manufacturer and supplier of a complete range of large scale metallurgical equipment and total iron making system supplier based in China.
Qinye's major products include its six categories of metallurgical valves, metallurgical transfer cars, track flat cars, CDQ equipment, bell-less top charging device with China independent intellectual property, energy, environment-friendly and energy-saving equipments. These serve industries like coking, melting, rolling, non-ferrous metal melting, industrial environment
protection and energy saving. Qinye actively perform its social duty “pursuing excellent quality and serving society” and expand its energy-saving and environment-friendly industry.
Qinye also received Chinese CQM certification and the British UKAS ISO9001 quality control certificate, with its major products guaranteed by the CE certificate in the EU market.
Recently Qinye Group has successfully established Qinye Engineering and Tech (Beijing ) Co., Ltd. (QETC) and Qinye Engineering & Tech (India) Pvt. Ltd. in joint venture with Steamline Industries Limited, India, a 25 year old company with good reputation in steel and power sector. Steamline has been working with Qinye for last four years. Qinye has exported the equipments and auxiliary products to South America, North America, Africa, South-Eastern Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and CIS states etc., and established a friendly and firmly relationship with the international customers.
QINYE eagerly expects cooperating with friends all over the world in technology and commercial business, to create the future in a spirit of togetherness with our partners.
Qinye has completed commissioning of 450cu.meter BF in Turkey on EPC and second 450 cu.meter BF under construction. And also 250cu.meter BF is under construction in Vietnam.