Steel Authority of India Ltd., India's largest steelmaker by local capacity, expects India's steel consumption to rise 5 percent-6 percent in 2009, while production is expected to rise 4 percent-5 percent, SAIL director Shoeb Ahmed said.
Steel demand has been buoyant in recent months on the back of rising infrastructure spending and a revival in demand from auto makers. Last year, consumption and production levels were roughly balanced.
Despite strong demand in India, steel prices are likely to remain stable in the short term, as the outlook for the steel sector in Europe still remains weak, said a report citing Shoeb Ahmed. However, it is difficult to predict how long this period of stability will last, he said.
India's leading steel companies raised prices of flat products for the second month in a row in September due to demand from auto makers and a recovery in global prices.
Local prices of long products, however, have remained stable because a significant shortfall in annual rains has slowed spending on construction-related activity in rural areas, where income is heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Long products are used to make houses and buildings.
The company sold 14 percent more steel in the July-September quarter than in the same quarter a year earlier.
The company sold more than 3.0 million metric tons of steel in the fiscal second quarter, it said. Sales of flat products rose 13 percent, while long product sales rose more than 14 percent.

State-run Coal India Ltd has shortlisted 10 global companies, including steel giant ArcelorMittal, to develop its 18 abandoned mines, which have 1.6 billion tons of proven coal reserves.
The shortlisted 10 companies to develop 18 abandoned mines in Jharkhand and West Bengal. These have 1.6 billion tons reserve of superior great coal, including 350 million tons of coking coal. The production from these mines is likely to start by 2013-14. Production from these mines will take three years from signing of contract. Signing contract with one or two companies is expected to be executed in the current financial year while the remaining will be signed next fiscal. The clearance for signing of contracts is expected from the Coal Ministry soon. The joint ventures with companies with a provision of giving 50 percent coal to the joint venture partner are strictly not in line with the new coal policy. New coal policy does not have a provision of joint venture partner picking up 50 percent of coal and that is why the clearance is needed.

The Divisional Forest Officer has served a show-cause notice on Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), which is setting up a six-million ton steel plant in Orissa, for alleged violation of central guidelines on initiating construction activities on non-forest land. Issued in the first week of October, it directed the company to stop work on the land, according to the conservator of forests, Angul circle.
The DFO, S S Mishra, said that central guidelines say if a project site has forest and non-forest land, no construction work can be started on the latter till clearance had for diversion of the forest land. The notice is a severe setback to JSPL, which had started work on 200 acres of non-forest land, with a target to commission the project in 2011. Unlike other mega projects in the state proposed by POSCO, Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal, which are facing land acquisition problems, JSPL had acquired almost all of its required land and started the work. JSPL required 2,018 hectares of land, of which 168 hectares are forest land. The rest was private and government land. According to forest department sources, environmental clearance for the Rs 15,000 crore project was obtained in 2007, but the stage-one forest clearance is yet to come.

Stainless steel crude steel production decreased in the first half of 2009 by 26.7 percent compared to the same period of 2008, showed Preliminary figures released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF).
Total production for the first six months of 2009 was 10.8 million metric tons (mmt). All major regions showed lower production volumes in the first half year 2009. Only China reported an increased production volume during the period.
Excluding China, stainless steel production in the Asia region declined by 34 percent to 3 million tons in the first half of 2009. All stainless producing countries (except China) were affected. Reductions in production volume ranged from 10 to 50 percent depending on the country. China increased its stainless steel production in the period by 5.3 percent to 4.1 mmt. China now accounts for almost 40 percent of the world's stainless steel production.
Western Europe or Africa reported a 40.5 percent decrease in stainless steel production during the first six months of 2009. Total output was 2.9 mmt in this period, down from 4.9 mmt for the first half of 2008.
In The Americas region, stainless crude steel production declined by 40.6 percent to 0.8 million tons in the first half of 2009. Production in the Eastern Europe region showed a decrease of 48.6 percent. Total production was just 100,000 tons, an almost negligible volume.
Comparing the first and second quarters of 2009 indicates that a significant recovery in stainless steel production may have begun. All regions, except Eastern Europe and the Americas, showed strongly increased production volumes in the second quarter. In Asia and China the increase was almost 30 percent above first quarter production. Western Europe/Africa reported a 20 percent increase in the same period.
A comparison of the market share of each of the main stainless steel grades shows there has been a recovery in the market-share of austenitic steels (300 series) compared to the levels of 2008. The market-share of ferritic grades has fallen, mainly due to the global decline in automotive production, typically a strong market for 400 series grades. The market share of chromium-manganese steels (200 series) has increased a little, largely due to an improved domestic market in China.

India's steel consumption rose by 5.7 percent to 26.49 million tons in the first six months of the current fiscal over the same period a year ago on account of improved demand from sectors like automobile and consumer durables.
The steel consumption in the April-September 2008 stood at 25.07 million tons, according to the provisional data obtained from the Steel Ministry. However, the domestic steel production rose only by two per cent to 28.49 million tons in the reporting period as against 27.93 million tons in the year-ago period. The deficit was met by one percent increase in steel imports to 3.22 million tonnes and 43 percent decline in exports to 1.34 million tons, Steel Secretary P K Rastogi said.
"The steel consumption and production trend in the first half of the current fiscal has been very encouraging. The scenario is expected to improve further in the remaining six months," he added.
Leading steel producers like Tata Steel, SAIL, JSW Steel have reported significant growth in steel production in the last few months. However, there was a marginal dip in both steel consumption and demand in September, which the secretary described as a temporary phenomena.
Rastogi said that last month both steel consumption and production increased by 0.5 percent to 4.30 million tons and 4.66 million tons, respectively, over the year-ago period.
In September, imports went down by 39 per cent to 4.71 lakh tons as against 7.7 lakh tons in the same period a year ago. Steel exports also dipped by about 48.50 percent to 2.08 lakh tons as compared to about four lakh tons shipped in September, 2008.
"India is poised for a double-digit growth in terms of both steel production and consumption in the current fiscal," he added. The World Steel Association expects the country's steel demand to grow by about nine per cent in 2009. Asked, if steel prices are bound to follow the positive consumption and production trend in the sector, Rastogi said, "The prices have been more or less stable in the April-September period and are likely to remain stable in the coming months."
Steel consumption and production as well as its prices came down sharply during the October-December period last year on account of the global economic slowdown. Steel makers have now revived their production and have also increased the prices of their products in the last few months in view of the increase in demand. Steel prices in the domestic market currently hovers in the range of Rs 32,000-50,000 a ton.

H M Nerurkar has been appointed as the managing director of Tata Steel, taking over from B Muthuraman, who retired from his executive position and from the board on 30 September 2009.
The board of directors of the company has also decided to re-appoint Muthuraman on the board as an additional director and designate him as the non-executive vice chairman of the company with effect from 1 October 2009.
The board has also decided to appoint Kirby Adams as the managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Steel Europe with effect from 1 October 2009. Nerurkar and Adams will directly report to the board of Tata Steel.
The appointment of Muthuraman as non-executive vice-chairman is in line with what was recently implemented in two other group companies — Tata Motors and TCS. Ravi Kant, the former MD of Tata Motors, was also elevated as non-executive vice-chairman of the commercial vehicle maker, while S Ramadorai of TCS was also given a similar role.
Muthuraman's tenure as MD saw the Jamshedpur-based steelmaker acquire Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus for $13 billion, catapulting the Indian company as the world's fifth-largest steelmaker by capacity. While the acquisition is gradually giving synergistic benefits, the high cost of acquisition and the recent slowdown in Europe has prompted Tata Steel to reset banking covenants on loans taken to acquire Corus and also recently close down some overseas units to cut costs.
Apart from tackling these issues, the new management will also have to address reported displeasure among Corus employees on Tata Steel's decision to provide bonus to Jamshedpur employees, while ignoring to pay Corus staff.
The appointment of Nerurkar was already indicated in March. Tata Steel had in a statement to BSE said that the board had approved the appointment of Mr Nerurkar as executive director (India and South East Asia) with effect from April 9, 2009. The statement also said that Adams was also appointed as additional director of the company.
Before being appointed as executive director, Nerurkar was in charge of flat products division. He has also been in charge of most of Tata Steel's vital projects with robust exposure in marketing.
A B. Tech in metallurgical engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune University, Nerurkar has attended several management courses in India and overseas, including CEDEP in France. He is associated with several professional organisations, such as Indian Institute of Metals, INSDAG, AIMA Governing Council among others. He is also a member of the board of directors of TM International Logistics.

State-owned NTPC and Coal India would form a 50:50 joint venture to develop coal mines for feeding the power major's Farakka and Kahalgaon thermal projects.
The Central Mine Planning & Design Institute, a subsidiary of Coal India which provides consulting services in the areas of coal explorations, sources said, may prepare a detailed project report on this.
NTPC informed the Bombay Stock Exchange it had signed an agreement with Coal India to form a joint venture company for developing the Brahmini and Chichro Patsimal coal blocks which would supply the dry fuel to its Farakka and Kahalgaon power plants in West Bengal and Bihar respectively. After meeting the coal requirements of NTPC, the proposed JV company will consider building a thermal power plant, sources said.
"This JV company would develop the coal blocks for NTPC's power projects and if any surplus coal is available at the locations, it (JV company) may utilise these for building a thermal power plant," they said.
They said NTPC-CIL joint venture would get a detailed project report made "most probably by the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI)".

Siemens has bagged two orders worth Rs 360 crore from PGCIL for setting up turnkey 765 kV substations each at Gaya in Bihar and Ranchi in Jharkhand.
The scope of work includes design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, installation, civil works, testing and commissioning of the complete substations on turnkey basis. PGCIL is installing these substations under the Transmission System associated with Damodar Valley Corporation and Maithon Right Bank Projects. DVC and Maithon Right Bank is the hub for power generation in Eastern India with approximate capacity of 25,000MW.
Siemens will supply the high end technology products such as circuit breakers, current transformers, capacitor voltage transformers, disconnectors, surge arrestors and substation automation including control and relay panels as well as SCADA system.
Both the substations are green field projects of PGCIL which will transmit power from DVC Right Bank and will enhance power reliability of NCR and WR of India thus helping PGCIL to support Government of India's ambitious goal of 'Power for All' by 2012. These projects by PGCIL are a step ahead in their Endeavour to transmit bulk power over long distances with substantially reduced transmission losses.
A K Dixit, CEO Energy Sector of Siemens Ltd said, “We are delighted to receive this order from PGCIL. Their confidence in our capability to deliver high quality systems and solutions has resulted in this partnership. We are partnering with our customer to provide energy efficient solutions that involves supply of high end technology products covering our high-voltage portfolio. The substations will be fully automated and are compact in design which will enable our customers to handle the plant more efficiently.”
Siemens having bagged three major packages of 765kV (Fatehpur, Gaya & Ranchi) in financial year 2009 will be the key player in contributing towards enabling PGCIL in boosting the Power transmission infrastructure of India.

JSW Steel has received the Karnataka government's nod to increase capacity at its Vijayanagar plant by 60 percent to 16 million tons per annum. Addition of 6 million tons per annum would make the facility the largest single location steel plant in India.
According to a report, Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD and group CFO said, "We have got the approval from the Karnataka government to increase the capacity to 16 million tons per annum. However, we are focusing only on a 10 mtpa expansion right now, which will be completed by March 2011."
“The 16 million tons per annum plan is on the drawing board. We had applied for certain clearances and we have got them but haven't decided yet when we want to start that expansion.”
The company has got the land, water and environmental clearances for the expansion.
JSW Steel is at present adding a 3 million tons blast furnace to take the Vijayanagar capacity to 10 million tons per annum. The steel maker's target to reach 10 million tons per annum by March 2010 was delayed due to economic slowdown.

The chairman of state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) Sushil Kumar Roongta has been appointed a member of the executive committee of the World Steel Association (WSA), which consists of CEO's of top global steel companies.
Roongta is not only a chief executive of an Indian firm to be in the committee, but is also the first SAIL Chairman to be appointed to the post. The WSA announced the names of its new Executive Committee members at its annual board meeting held in Beijing recently. The Council is responsible for discussing and formulating policies for the global steel industry. The Association represents as many as 180 steel producers, including 18 of the world's 20 largest companies. SAIL had reported a net profit of Rs 2,813 crore during the first half of 2009, which is the highest among its global peers.
The company reported 14 percent growth in its sales at over 3 million tons during the second quarter ended September 2009, over the year-ago period. It also achieved 1.2 million tons special steel production-- best ever in any Q2, which was 15 percent higher than the corresponding period last fiscal. Sale of long products, primarily consumed by the construction sector, surged by 14 percent, in the quarter over July-September 2009. Production of flat-rolled items, used by the auto and the consumer durables industry, surged by 13 percent in the second quarter of the fiscal over the corresponding period last fiscal.
According to the company, it also achieved the best techno-economic factors for any Q2 in the period.

Visakhapatnam port saw a marginal decline in its cargo handling at around 33 million ton during the first half of the current financial year as compared with last year. Cargo handling may not achieve last year's magic figure this year at Vizag port because of the commissioning of Gangavaram port. However, cargo handing during the first half of the current financial year was about 80,000 ton less than last year. The port lost over 1.2 million ton coking coal to Gangavaram port during the six-month period. Moreover, Vizag Steel Plant, which earlier used Vizag port for importing coking and thermal coal shifted to Gangavaram port. In all, 8.9 million ton cargo shifted to Gangavaram port. During the last financial year, Vizag port handled 63.9 million ton of cargo and is expected to achieve the same figure this year too. Coking coal declined to 3.6 million ton in the first half of this year, as against 4.8 million ton in the same period last fiscal. However petroleum products, increased by 524,000 tons, thermal coal 426,000 tons and other cargos by 670,000 tons. On the other hand, Gangavaram port handled 8.9 million ton cargo, of which coking coal and thermal coal stood at 3 million ton each while other cargo was at 2.9 million ton during the period, Gangavaram port sources said.

Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty increased its forecast for iron ore by 9 percent and metallurgical coal by 16 percent as China's demand rises amid tighter domestic supply. A key driver of more bullish view is an estimate of global crude steel production which is forecast to rise by 12 percent in 2010 to a record 1.4 billion tons. Raw materials constraints will become more acute in 2010, putting suppliers in a strong position to negotiate higher prices. Iron ore fines may reach $72 a metric ton in 2010-11, up from an earlier forecast of $66 a ton. Hard coking coal may climb to $180 a ton, up from an earlier forecast of $155 a ton. Demand for the steel-making ingredients is being driven by China as a $586 billion stimulus package boosts manufacturing and building.
The government commodity forecaster in Australia, the world's biggest shipper of iron ore, last month said China may buy 20 percent more of the material next year than forecast in June. This year's record growth in Chinese imports will more than offset the collapse in demand elsewhere, Goldman said in the report. Next year, continued strength in China coincides with a recovery in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development nations and tightening supply chains. Risks to Chinese steel output include the prospect that production has run ahead of underlying demand and falling prices.

Kolkata based Shyam Steel is facing procedural delays in land acquisition for its proposed steel project at Raghunathpur in Purulia, said, Shyam Beriwala, Chairman, Shyam Steel.
He added that there is no political issue but procedural delays are holding up the project. As per report, land acquisition is underway but yet to be handed over to Shyam Steel.
Beriwala said, “The company has purchased 100 acres and the balance is being acquired by the West Bengal government.” “The state government is more cautious after Singur but we expect the land to be handed over in 2 to 3 months.”
The 1.2 million ton project would require around 1,200 acres. However, for the first phase 600 acres would be adequate.
He added that the project would also have a power plant. In the first phase the capacity would be 25MW which would go up to 200MW. The total investment in the project would be INR 3,000 crore.

Global steel consumption will rebound by more than 9 percent next year, recovering after this year's 8.6 percent decline, which was less severe than earlier expected thanks to strong China growth, World Steel Association said.
China, the world's biggest producer of steel, will show an 18.8 percent jump in apparent consumption to 526 million tons this year, World Steel Association said. The body previously expected China's demand to fall 5 percent.
In April, the group had forecast that global apparent consumption -- which does not make any adjustments for possible changes in stock levels -- would fall 14.1 percent this year.
"The global recovery is stronger than we predicted in April. According to our current forecast, China will rebound 19 percent in 2009 and 5 percent in 2010," Daniel Novegil, chairman of the World Steel Economics committee, said in a statement.
Global demand will rise 9.2 percent to 1.206 billion tonnes next year from 1.104 billion tonnes, the group said in its first forecast for 2010.
The recession slashed global steel demand deeply this year, cutting into earnings for industry leaders such as ArcelorMittal, but Chinese production has boomed as Beijing embarked on an infrastructure-focused stimulus plan.
But analysts have raised questions about the sustainability of China's unexpectedly strong growth, questioning how much of it is speculative demand versus end-use.
“Emerging economies will slow down 17 percent in 2009 but grow 12 percent in 2010. Apparent steel use in developed economies that contracted 34 percent in 2009 will rebound 15 percent in 2010. Therefore the World Steel Association forecasts that global steel demand will return to growth in 2010.

The world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal is close to pulling out of a $20 billion plan to build two steel plants in India due to difficulties buying land, said the company's chairman and main owner Lakshmi Mittal.
Delays in persuading farmers and others to sell land for the development in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa were holding up the project, Mittal said in an interview.
"If we cannot make progress in these two sites we will have to abandon the idea of starting the projects there and look for other places in India for our expansion," he said.
Mittal is seeking to boost world No.1 steelmaker ArcelorMittal's slim presence in the country of his birth.
Mittal said that he was still committed to building at least one steel plant in India, but that dropping his plan for two plants producing together 24 million tons of steel a year by about 2015 would delay his plans for a sizeable presence in India by several years.

The world's sixth biggest steel producer Tata Steel Ltd's steel sales from its Indian operations rose 19 percent in July-September from a year earlier to 1.46 million tons.
Sales for the first half of the financial year that began in April rose 21 percent from a year ago to 2.88 million tons, the company said in a statement.
The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's total annual global capacity of 30 million tons, which includes unit Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker.
Sales of long products, used in construction, jumped 49 percent in April-September from a year earlier, the company said.

Essar Group offered $128 million for Australian coal explorer Rocklands Richfield Ltd., outbidding Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.
Essar Group offered 50 Australian cents for each share, Sydney-based Rocklands said. Jindal owns about 10.5 percent of the company, which controls three metallurgical coal projects in Queensland-state, and made a takeover bid of 42 cents a share last month.
Rocklands has surged almost seven fold in Sydney trading in the last six months, giving the company a market value of about A$118 million. The merits of the two takeover proposals will be considered to determine which one is superior, Rocklands said. Goldman Sachs JBwere Pty raised its 2010 forecast for metallurgical or hard coking coal, used to make steel, to $180 a metric ton from $155 a ton, citing tighter supply and increased demand, a report dated Oct. 6 shows.
The two offers are preliminary and not capable of being submitted to shareholders for consideration, Rocklands said. Essar's proposal is conditional on it acquiring 60 percent of Rocklands, the Sydney-based company said.

Indian steel major JSW Steel Ltd's net July-Sept realisation stood at Rs 27,000 a ton on increased sales growth.
"In the second quarter our sales grew by around 53 percent and so our net realisation has increased," Krishna Deshika, joint group chief financial officer said. The firm currently produces 7 million tons of steel and it would reach 10 million tons by March 2011, he said.
"We are having a comfortable EBITDA level and our operating margins should be higher sequentially," he added.
With the increasing sales growth, JSW Steel's liquidity position has eased considerably and the company is unlikely to raise funds through QIP immediately, Deshika said.
“We are ready with the placement document but we are yet to decide on timing and exact size of the issue. The liquidity pressure is not there right now, so there is no urgency," he said. "Whenever we would raise money through QIP, it would be less than $500 million, by diluting around 8 percent and we would use the money for debt clearance," he added. Currently the company has total debt of around 146 billion rupees and its board has passed an enabling resolution to raise $1 billion, he said.
Separately, JSW Steel plans to raise Rs 66 billion via debt for funding its West Bengal steel project, Deshika said.
"The total project cost for the West Bengal steel project is around Rs11, 000 crores of which 60-65 percent would be raised through debt and the rest through equity," he said.
The firm also expects financial closure for the project by 2011, he added.

The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has achieved sales turnover of Rs 4,583 crore from April to September, surpassing the MoU target by 10 percent.
According to a report, the steel plant achieved sales volume of 13.09 lakh tons, registering a growth of 19 percent over the corresponding period last year. The management continued its thrust on valued-added steel. Value-added steel sales during the period amounted to 9.64 lakh tons, a growth of 18 percent over the corresponding period last year. The sources said the expansion project was being executed smoothly and during September 15,133 tons of structural erection was carried out in the units, which is a record in a month for major steel projects.

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) recorded more than 100 percent capacity utilization in all major areas of production in the first half of this fiscal (April-September).
The steel unit produced 1.09 million tons (mt) of hot metal, 1.02 mt of crude steel and 0.96 mt of saleable steel in the April-September period, thereby clocking a capacity utilization of 109 percent, 108 percent and 115 percent respectively.

Jharkhand is likely to start mapping its mineral reserves with assistance from National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) shortly.
The state mines and geology directorate has given its nod to the proposal sent by NMDC last year. The proposal has now been sent to the advisor to the state governor for final clearance.
State geology director J.P. Singh said, "As per the proposal, the mines and geology directorate will do a detailed minerals survey by forming a joint venture with NMDC. Jharkhand is home to 40 percent the country's mineral reserves.”
NMDC chairman and managing director, Rana Som confirmed the development, saying he was expecting final clearance from Raj Bhavan, following which a MoU would be signed with the state government. He added that NMDC had set aside Rs 40 crore for exploration work.
Singh said, "The matter has been pending for a long time. Now it is with the advisor to the governor for final consent. We have preliminary information on the location of minerals but we need specific information about the mines and their location for giving mining leases to the companies."
"The mapping will enable us to get a sense of the extent of minerals in a location, assess the extent of forest cover in the vicinity, and the number of existing leases given to different companies. That way, we will have the complete database on the current mineral reserves," said Singh.