Steel Max to begin production tests

Steel Max announced that it would start CRC production tests at its new mill in August this year. Steel Max started the construction of the mill in 2008.
The nameplate capacity of the mill is 80,000 tons per year of CRC with 0.2-1.5 mm thickness and maximum of 1000 mm width. The project's overall cost is marked US $10 million and is located inside Sheikh Najjar Industrial Area near Aleppo city in the Syrian north.
   
Azarbaijan Steel rebar output declines

Iranian steelmaker Azarbaijan Steel produced 82,000 metric tons (MT) of rebar in the first two months of the current Iranian year.
Down by 28 percent on the volume of 105,000 MT in the corresponding period of the last Iranian year according to the new figures from the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO).
Azarbaijan Steel is a state-owned rolling mill with an annual capacity of 550,000 MT per year.
   
Essar denies talks of Kandil acquisition: Report

Essar Steel has denied talks that it seeks to acquire Egypt's Kandil Steel, according to a report.
The report pointed out that India's Essar Steel is in talks to acquire Kandil Steel, a mid-sized steel firm in Egypt. The former is believed to have sent feelers to Kandil Steel and is likely to offer a formal proposal to its management in the near future.
Responding to this statement, an Essar Steel spokesperson said, "We would like to state that Essar Steel is not in talks to acquire Kandil Steel. We categorically deny this information. This is totally incorrect and is far from truth."
The leading Indian private steel maker has global production capacity of 8.6 million tons per annum (MTPA).
Earlier this year, its subsidiary Essar Steel Middle East said that it will set up a 2,50,000-ton processing and service centre in Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone to meet the requirement of its customers in the region.
Kandil Steel makes cold and hot-rolled coil and primarily meets the requirement of auto and consumer durables industry. It plans to reach a capacity of a million tons per year by 2010.
Last month, Naveen Jindal led, Jindal Steel and Power announced acquisition of Oman-based Shadeed Iron and Steel Co from the UAE's Al Ghaith Holdings for US $464 million.
With green shoots of recovery, Indian steel majors are seen consolidating their presence in the Middle East to cater to the strong demand for steel in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which has projected a supply shortfall of 15 million tons.
   
Arab steel companies' see increase in output

The output of main Arab crude steel producing companies has shown a great increase during the first five months of 2010. Their production amounted to 6.723 MT of crude steel, up by 26.3 percent when compared with their production for the same period of 2009 that marked 5.362 MT.
Hadeed SABIC came first as the largest crude steel producer, among Arab companies with 2.242 MT as compared to 1.777 MT produced in 2009, i.e. up by 26.17 percent year-on-year (y-o-y). Meanwhile, Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) entered into crude steel production for the first time in 2010.
During the comparison period, Qatar Steel achieved the highest production increase rate by 91.4 percent, marking 823,000 tons of crude steel production up from 430,000 tons. It has also marked the highest month-on-month increase by 20 percent between April and May. In the same context, SONASID achieved a 32 percent increase to reach 249,000 tons compared to 188,000 tons for the same period of last year. Whereas, Egyptian companies ramped up their production by 13.5 percent with an output of 2.531 MT up from 2.23 MT for the same period of 2009, while Ezz Steel came in the lead of Egyptian crude steel producers.
  New Iranian mill inaugurated
 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally inaugurated the new rolling mill of Iranian steel producer Natanz Steel. The new mill has an annual capacity of one million metric tons of wire rod, while an investment of about Rials 3,100 billion (US $297 million) was spent on its construction.
Natanz Steel is based near the city of Natanz in the central Iranian province of Esfahan. It was founded in 1999, its first rolling mill, capable of producing rebars, and plain round bar, became operational in 2004.
  Iran Alloy Steel's output increases
 

Iranian steelmaker Iran Alloy Steel produced 65,340 metric tons (MT) of semi-finished steel (billet and bloom) and 64,816 MT of finished steel products (round bar) in the first three months (March 21-June 20) of the current Iranian year, up 10 percent and 41 percent year-on-year respectively, according to the newly published figures from the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO). Iran Alloy Steel had produced 59,000 MT of semi-finished steel and 46,000 MT of round bar in the first three months of the last Iranian year.
  UAE rebar market sees no sign of revival
 

The UAE rebar market has not shown any change in tenor, despite rally in long product prices in Black Sea port and Turkey. This region is unscathed in the absence of demand-pull. The cost-push owing to appreciation in scrap price increasing the rebar prices is hitting the wall.
Turkish and Ukrainian levels have improved by US$ 30 per ton to US$ 35 per ton over the last three weeks and it is found some acceptable in countries like Iraq, Morocco and African nations as pre Ramadan buying commenced.
Nonetheless, UAE being the mainstay in rebar consumption market continues to be sluggish. The prices in fact have receded by AED 100 per ton. However, token activity is expected during last week of July and early August just before Ramadan.
Local mill rebar is available at AED 2140 per ton (US$ 583 per ton) EXW for July bookings. Imported offers prevailing around US$ 530 per ton to US$ 550 per ton, from Turkey are having no takers. However, certain revival is expected in the post Ramadan period.
  Egyptian companies fix rebar price
 

Egyptian companies have announced a fixed rebar price for July despite the increase in the sales tax applied in the beginning of the month at eight percent rate instead of five percent.
The ex-works rebar price per ton with the new tax on sales added reached EGP 3550 for Ezz Steel, EGP 3500 for Beshay Steel and EGP 3400-3450 for other companies.
The increase is estimated to be around EGP 100 per ton, which means that Egyptian steel producers have moved the price down at a similar value. This procedure comes as a response to poor demand, combined with large amounts of imported rebar, the thing that drove the Metal Industries Chamber of the Industrial Union to demand a stop of imports.
Muhammad Hanafi, Head of the Chamber, confirmed, “The supply of rebar is larger than the demand and stocks in local mills now amount to 1.5 MT in addition to more than 300 thousand tons in the warehouses of the distributors". He also anticipated Turkish imports to return to the Egyptian market, as "Turkish rebar is sold to traders at a price lower than the local one by around EGP 200".