Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the holding company of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant posted a turnover of Rs 10635 crore for financial year 2009-10. The company held its 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at its registered office in Visakhapatnam. The meeting was chaired by PK Bishnoi, Chairman-cum-Managing Director and PK Mittal, Under Secretary to the Govt. of India, Ministry of Steel.
Addressing the shareholders, Bishnoi said that the financial year 2009-10 has been an eventful year because the impact of the global financial crisis that started in the second half of the previous year, has been gradually assimilated and the company withstood the crisis consequent to a strong recovery in the Indian economy, thanks to the timely and proactive initiatives of the Government of India to boost economic growth. Yet, 2009-10 was at best a year of cautious recovery but
encouraging year for the company. He further said that the steel markets saw a growth in consumption but the prices continued to be under pressure. During the year, the company has achieved some of the best ever yearly performances in respect of production of value added steel 2.403 million tonnes (MT), steel dispatches by rail of 2.07 MT and best ever gross sales of Rs.10635 crores in addition to best techno-economic parameters achieved in terms of yields (wire rods and MMSM Mills) and specific water consumption of 2.16 Cub. mtrs./tls. This could be possible despite certain constraints like power availability, etc. The company earned a net profit of Rs.797 crores for the year 2009-10. The shareholders of the company at the AGM have approved the payment of dividend for the year 2009-10 at 10 percent of PAT (Profit after tax). The company would also be paying seven percent dividend on preference capital. Inclusive of taxes, the outgo on account of dividends would be Rs 333 crores.

The government early July freed the entire steel sector from import curbs by lifting restrictions on bringing iron and steel products used in ships and boats also from outside. Import of certain articles of iron and steel used in steering or rudder equipment for ships and boats has been freed, said a notification from the Foreign Trade Office.
These were the only few items which were under restrictive import category requiring licence. Import bill of such items was US$ 227 million during April-December 2009, while total iron and steel imports were US$ 2.12 billion.

The private sector steel producer JSW Steel reported 14 percent rise in output in the April-June quarter on the back of a steady rise in demand. Total production during the period under consideration grew at 1.57 million tons.
The rise in production was attributed to commissioning of the 6.8 million ton per annum (MTPA) expansion project and 3.5 MTPA new hot strip mill at the Vijaynagar works in the last financial year.
Moreover, a company statement said that production of flat steel products consumed primarily by the automobile industry rose by 26 percent to 1.09 million tons in April-June, 2010, vis-à-vis the same period last year. JSW Steel also saw output of long steel products used by infrastructure and construction companies rising by about 71 percent to 3.09 lakh tons during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago.

Qualimech Engineers and Pradman Engineering have come together to market and develop guide rolls for long product mills in India. Both organisations are well established names in the steel industry especially in wire rod mills and bar rod mills. The manufacturing and process knowledge of Qualimech combined with the service and operational strength of Pradman makes a formidable team to support mill rolling. This team is focused on supporting long product rolling mills to improve roll life, mill productivity, quality and performance with new and better rolls. Pradman and Qualimech are also testing new materials for increased roll life and performance.

JSW Steel expects its US business to start making profits from next year. The company's US operations are at 30 percent of the production capacity.
Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD of JSW Steel said that after making losses for several quarters, JSW Steel US reported an operating profit of Rs 10 crore for the quarter ended March 2010 but its margins remain under pressure due to sluggish demand in the US.
Rao added that, “We see the US operations gaining normalcy next year.”
Another person said that JSW Steel USA might post losses of close to Rs 200 crore for the year ending March 2011 against Rs 385 crore in 2009 to 2010, as it is likely to operate at less than half the capacity throughout the year.
Rao declined to comment on the losses the US subsidiary is expected to incur this year. However, he said the operations have improved since last year when it was producing at just 10 to 15 percent of the capacity.
Rao further said that JSW Steel US has also shelved plans to start exports to central and South America from 2010. As some of these markets are still recovering from the downturn, the company will continue to focus on the domestic market to keep afloat.

Steel Strips Wheels has set up a manufacturing plant for supplying parts to leading auto majors. The plant, the third one by the group after Chennai and Chandigarh, was inaugurated by Hemant M Nerurkar, MD of TATA Steel at Govindpur in Jamshedpur near the TATA Motors plant.
Dheeraj Garg, Group MD said that the unit set up at a cost of Rs 140 crore over nine acres of land near TATA Motors will have an initial production capacity of one million wheel rims which will be upgraded to two million in mid 2011.
He said that though the main customer of the plant will be TATA Motors the wheel rims produced here would also be supplied to another leading automobile company, Ashok Leyland and the export markets in Japan and Europe.
He said expansion of Chennai unit, which has 2.5 million capacity is going on. Production at the Chennai unit will be doubled following the completion of the ongoing expansion, which is expected to be over by the end of this fiscal. The company has invested Rs 45 crore for the expansion of the unit.
Garg added that the company would enhance its total capacity to 15 million by March next year from the current 11 million. In addition, the cost of wheels produced by the company will be comparatively cheaper.

Exports of iron ore should be lower for more availability of the steelmaking raw materials for local users and the government is seriously working on in that direction, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said.
He advocated that a full ban on iron ore exports was needed and highlighted the importance of preserving the raw material to meet the country's growing steel demand and infrastructure development. India's steel industry has frequently lobbied for a ban on iron ore export or at least for further raising the export duty on it so that more of the commodity is available for local use at low prices.
India exports over 80 per cent of its total iron ore output mainly to China that houses the world's largest steel industry. India last raised the export duty on iron ore lumps to 15 percent in April from 10 percent earlier. In the 2009-10 fiscal year that ended in March, the country produced 226 million tons of iron ore, compared with 215 million tons in the previous year.

A.T.E. Enterprises announced it is now entering the Indian metal industry with its tie-up with US-based Radiometric Services and Instruments (RSI) for the promotion and sale of its X-ray based thickness and coating weight measurement systems for the flat metal rolling industry.
A.T.E. Enterprises Private Limited is one of India's leading businesses in industrial sales, distribution and service. The company is active in the areas of textile engineering, clean technology, remote monitoring, flow technology, and print and packaging solutions, with sales clocking Rs.1000 plus crores in 2008-09. It is a part of the seven decade old A.T.E. Group, a diversified engineering group in India.
Founded by a group of professionals with more than 200 man years of combined gauging experience, RSI provides reliable cutting edge technology for the metal industry. RSI has its manufacturing facility and head office at Maryland, US, and its direct sales office in Beijing, China. Apart from this, RSI has a wide network of representatives across the globe.
RSI make thickness measurement systems are used in hot rolling mills, cold rolling mills and other processing lines for very fast, accurate and reliable online thickness measurement of steel strip/aluminum foil and any other flat rolled metal. The system is capable of giving fast, low-noise output signals to automatic gauge control (AGC) systems for gauge control. The coating weight gauges (CWGs) are designed to precisely determine the coating weight of zinc or zinc alloys on both sides of the steel strips in galvanising lines.
The RSI gauges are fast and accurate with better calibration reliability. A wide range of X-ray sources are available to choose for a variety of applications. A Linux based operating system ensures stability and prevents obsolescence. With built-in source temperature and multipoint system temperature monitoring, RSI gauges provide better diagnosis and faster trouble shooting.
With more than 100 gauging systems installed in the steel and aluminum industry for various applications and 60 gauges under maintenance and spares contract, RSI has clearly established itself in the international market. Its customers include major steel manufacturers in US, Europe, China and other Asian countries.

The world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal is understood to be jointly working with its domestic partner Uttam Galva for setting up INR 15,000 crore steel plant in Maharashtra.
ArcelorMittal and Uttam Galva are in the process of setting up three million tons per annum (MTPA) steel plant at Satarda in Maharashtra. MECON was recently asked to prepare the feasibility report for the project.
The proposed plant, which can cost the companies Rs 15,000 crore, will come up in two phases of 1.5 MTPA each.
However, Ankit Miglani, Director – Commercial of Uttam Galva denied any such move. He said, "No. At present, the plan to set up an integrated steel project in Satarda is on hold. The plant was a priority when ArcelorMittal was not our partner. Now, ArcelorMittal is our partner. We have the raw material security.”
ArcelorMittal spokesperson said, "We do not comment on market rumours."

Steel users have urged the government to slash import duty for the betterment of domestic industry. The forum of steel users have sought Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma's intervention in stopping the review probe on anti-dumping duty on certain stainless steel items as the levy was hurting the domestic industry.
The industry is also demanding removal of the duty up to US$ 1,646 per ton on imported cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel from the US, China, South Africa, France, Spain and other countries. The representative industry body All India Stainless Steel Industries Association (AISSIA) argued that the review of the import restrictive duty would further hurt the industry.
The anti-dumping duty has jacked up raw material prices for downstream industry and it has directly hit output costs and exports. Widening of the scope of the duty would be very harmful for the user industry, as it has to import large quantities of steel. The Commerce Ministry is conducting a probe into the allegations made by JSL Ltd (formerly Jindal Stainless) that some importers were circumventing anti-dumping duty on the steel used in industries like consumer durables, auto and metro rail coach manufacturing..

Lack of railway coaches in east India's Orissa state has led to a reduced supply of imported coal for power and steel companies including plants of state-run NTPC, a company official said. A stock of about two million tons of imported coal has piled up at Paradip port and several more vessels are waiting to off load stocks.
Coal shortages have curbed India's annual electricity generation growth to 3.43 percent in June, the lowest increase since November. Of the coal stocks at Paradip, about 900,000 tons of non coking coal belongs to state-run trader MMTC Ltd and large amounts of coking coal belongs to steelmakers including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd.
Most importantly, stocks continue to build for the last two months as the Railways is not sending enough rakes (wagons). The railways had cut down the availability of wagon combinations, or rakes, to about one or two in a day, each with the capacity to carry about 37,000 tons of coal only. NTPC's plants Farakka and Kahalgaon in the eastern state of West Bengal and Bihar have been worst hit.
The railways had curtailed their supply of rakes as India's iron ore exports had fallen and it therefore, was finding it uneconomical to send empty railway rakes to the port. In 2009-10 March, India imported 68 million tons of coal to top its domestic production of 531 million tons..

The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has awarded an order to a consortium led by Siemens VAI Metals Technologies for the construction of a new rolling mill for long products in Durgapur, West Bengal. As from mid 2012, the schedule is, to produce one million tons per annum of structural steels of various sizes and cross-sections.
A consortium comprising Siemens VAI and the Indian company Shriram EPC, Chennai, is handling the new rolling mill project in Durgapur. The mechanical equipment of the rolling mill comprises the descaler for billets and blooms, 16 RedRing rolling stands, a 102 meter long cooling table, straightener units and a cold cutting area. The rolling line is completed by systems for stacking, strapping, weighing and labelling the end products.
The new long product rolling mill in Durgapur will expand SAIL's production capacities for structural steels for the home market by about 1 million tonnes per annum. The range of products will include round and square bars, angle and channel sections, and beams up to the maximum dimension of 300mm.
Siemens is also supplying the complete electrical equipment, including medium and low voltage transformers and the low voltage distribution system. The order also includes main and auxiliary drives, motors; motor control centres the uninterruptible power supply, the basic and process automation, operator control and visualization systems, an intercom and a CCTV system. A workshop for refurbishing rolls and guides will also be built.

The country's largest private sector steel producer Tata Steel posted sales at 1.4 million tons in the April-June quarter from its Indian operations which stood nearly flat compared with the same period last year. Sales in the quarter were hurt by weak market sentiment in the flat products segment and excessive imports of hot rolled coil from China.
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. The company's crude steel production in India rose 8.3 percent to 1.63 million tons for the quarter.
Sales of long products, primarily used in construction, rose eight percent, it said. It did not disclose growth for flat products, but said within this segment, demand from the auto sector rose 20 percent.

The public sector iron ore miner NMDC said that it is in talks to buy coking coal mines from Kolmar in Russia to feed its proposed steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. The coal mines are understood to have an estimated reserve of 400 million tons.
NMDC along with two other companies has already submitted a US$ 230-million non-binding bid to buy 70 percent stake in an Australian mine owned by Perth-based Atlas Iron. In addition, the company is looking for acquiring coal assets through International Coal Ventures Ltd--the consortium of five leading PSU's, including SAIL, NTPC and RINL. The firm is also looking at developing iron ore mines in Africa in joint venture with world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal.
NMDC had recently said that it is in partnership talks with Japan's Nippon Steel for a Rs 10,000-crore project in Karnataka, and with Kobe Steel for another project in Andhra Pradesh. The company has proposed to set up a 2-million ton per annum (MTPA) plant in Karnataka. Besides these JVs, NMDC plans to commission its 3-MTPA integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh by 2014. The miner is investing Rs 3,400 crore to augment its annual iron ore production to about 41 million tons from around 22 million tons at present.

India's largest private sector rail wagon manufacturers Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) is looking at expanding its operations into the West Asian market after having acquired the assets and business of Arbel Fauvet Rail, (AFR) France.
JP Chowdhary, Chairman of Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) said, “AFR has a strong presence in the European market it has done business in Africa as well. We will now focus on expanding our footprint in the Middle East particularly in the Gulf countries to ramp up our operations on a global scale.”
This is the first acquisition abroad by TWL and the first of its kind in the sector. Negotiations are on for a project in Tunisia.
Umesh Chowdhary, MD of TWL said, “Rail connectivity projects are aggressively being developed in West Asia and the markets there are easily accessible from France. The details of the project in Tunisia are being finalised. We are also looking at developing business in Saudi Arabia.”

Steel Strip Wheels (SSWL), Indian steel wheel producer for the auto sector, achieved sales of 640,000 steel wheel rims during the month of June this year as against 486,000 in the same month of 2009, recording a growth of 31.68 percent.
SSWL produced 650,000 wheel rims in June this year, compared to 489,000 rims in the corresponding month of 2009, up 32 percent. According to a company statement, SSWL also achieved export sales of 74,798 steel wheel rims during the month in question, as against 30,906 rims in June 2009, increasing by 142 percent.

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) plans to spend Rs 418 crore on developing a new iron ore storage yard with a capacity of 600,000 tons. PK Bishnoi, CMD of VSP inaugurated the structural erection work for the new yard.
To meet their future expansion requirements, VSP and MMTC jointly have plans to lay about 430 kilometres long pipeline with an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore to transport the iron ore from Bailadilla mines to Visakhapatnam. This would be transported in slurry form for greater raw material security. The proposed yard will have state-of-the-art technology for stacking, reclaiming and conveying the raw material to blast furnaces.
The company said the facility would help in storing additional iron ore to meet contingencies when they arise due to disruption of any delivery to plant..

Vedanta Group firm Sesa Goa said its profit may fall in the second quarter due to slowing economic activity in China and prevalent monsoon.
"Historically in the second quarter, our profit has declined due to the monsoon. Now, Chinese economy is also slowing. On volume, we will be able to deliver to our long- term customers in China. Nevertheless, we have no control over the fluctuating prices. We are not in China out of choice," Sesa Goa Managing Director, P K Mukherjee said.
The mining firm sold about 5.4 million tons of iron ore in the first quarter. It had a profit of Rs 4.22 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal. The company said it would try to contain input cost in the second quarter.
To reduce its dependence on China, the company is actively looking at supplying iron ore to customers in other parts of the world. It is negotiating higher prices for its iron ore supplied to Japanese and South Korean mills in the first quarter of the fiscal. "We had also recently made a trial-supply to Tata Steel Thailand. Indian steel firms mostly do not use fines to produce steel," he added.
The company operates mines in Goa, Karnataka and Orissa. Supplies from Goa will be affected due to the ongoing monsoon in the second quarter, Mukherjee said. On iron ore prices, which had touched a peak of US$ 150 a ton in the first quarter, he said, could hover in the range of US$ 100-110 a ton in the next few months.
Sesa Goa produced about 21 million tons of iron ore in the last fiscal and expects the output to grow in the current financial year, as it targets the 50 million tons mark in next 2-3 years. The Vedanta Group firm saw its sales increasing to Rs 24.13 crore in the first quarter, as against Rs 10.11 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.