Ispat Industries Ltd's blast furnace at its state-of-the-art integrated steel plant at Dolvi, Raigad District, Maharashtra has set an all-time high domestic production record of 184,167 tons hot metal on March 31, 2010. This is the highest-ever productivity achieved by any blast furnace in India to date.
In fact, Ispat's Dolvi Plant has a highly motivated work culture of establishing new records. Its production of 184,167 tonnes hot metal till the year end, corresponds to a productivity of 2.83 MT/day -- the highest in India. Its coal injection rate this March 2010 was also a record in itself -- 167 kg per ton hot metal -- as the company has substantially reduced its carbon footprint. Fuel consumption at Ispat's Dolvi Plant has been kept to the lowest levels – only 495 kg/THM. “We are proud to operate the most productive and fuel efficient blast furnace in India,” Vinod K Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing, Ispat Industries Ltd said.
“We are just not concentrating on raising our production output, but also ensuring the manufacture process is environment friendly as we forge ahead in 2010.” he added.
The blast furnace at Ispat's Dolvi Plant was commissioned in May 2008 as the second largest blast furnace in the country. The furnace manufactures quality pig iron (hot metal) following the Conarc Process, which yields enormous energy saving advantages. The high quality pig iron manufactured by Ispat at Dolvi is also purchased by other steel manufacturers.
Ispat's Dolvi blast furnace has a capacity for 2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and a turnover volume of 2581 cu.m. The furnace incorporates the latest refractory design and cooling system, with copper stoves and copper cooling boxes, and a cast house slag granulation system.

The centre approved a 20 percent stake sale in state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the country's top domestic maker of the alloy, through a follow-on public offer. The sale will happen in two tranches, with each tranche having a 5 percent government stake and a 5 percent fresh equity issuance. The first tranche is expected to fetch the government US$1.8 billion at the current market price of around 244 rupees (US$5.45) per share.
"After the sale of both tranches are completed, government stake would be 69 percent," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said. The federal government hopes to raise around US$9 billion through stake sales in state-run firms in the 2010/11 fiscal year that began on April 1. The government has also lined up share sales in other state-run firms such as utility Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, Engineers India Ltd and state-run miner Hindustan Copper Ltd in the current fiscal year.
The government had set a target from stake sales of around US$5.6 billion in the 2009/10 fiscal year that ended on March 31, but fell short of it due to lukewarm response to issues from top power producer NTPC, oil and gas exploration major Oil India Limited and top miner NMDC.
The government is banking on proceeds from stake sales to meet its fiscal deficit target of 5.5 percent of gross domestic produce for the fiscal year 2010/11.

Deutsche Maschinen India Pvt. Ltd. (DMI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Herkules Group Germany was inaugurated on March 25, 2010 by Christoph Thoma, Chairman and CEO of Herkules Group.
DMI was incorporated in May 2007 for providing technical support to more than 200 machines supplied in last 50 years or so in India and its neighbouring countries in South Asia by Herkules Group.
Herkules, a leading name in the field of roll shop machineries and equipments for steel, aluminium and paper industries was founded in Siegen, Germany in 1911 by Dipl. Ing. Franz Thoma, grandfather of the present Chairman Christoph Thoma.
The Herkules group consists of several manufacturing companies in US, Germany as well as China. In 2004, the worldwide known Waldrich Siegen Company, the main competitor was incorporated into the group as independent individual second brand. DMI's engineers and technicians trained at Herkules, Germany provides technical services to all customers in India and neighbouring countries for installation and maintenance services during and after warranties and also to further strengthen Herkules' services by way of revamping of old Herkules, Waldrich and other equipments and upgrading same with retrofitting of CNC controls. Moreover, the robust old machines which are still in operation but need thorough overhauling followed by change in electricals with CNC retrofittings will give them a new lease of life with restoration of original accuracies. Further introduction of measuring units, eddy current and ultrasonic crack detection systems, automatic roll surface inspection systems and ultrasonic wheel tester etc. will make it almost at par with new machines with warranty from DMI backed by the Herkules group up to 12 months from the date of commissioning.
The German equipment installed at DMI factory will also extend support by manufacturing spare parts for the equipments to be upgraded other than providing services to several other industries.
Meanwhile many customers including SAIL, Tata Steel, Tinplate Co., JSW Steel, Ispat Industries, Gontermann-Peipers, Bhushan Steel, Uttam Steel, Hindalco and many paper mills have shown interest in revamping and upgrading of their equipments at DMI.
It is expected that DMI will produce to the international quality and cater to the national as well as international requirements under stewardship of German know-how.

The Indian government said it has granted licence to ArcelorMittal for prospecting iron ore in Karampada region of Jharkhand, a move which will give boost to the steel giant's proposed Rs 50,000-crore project in the state.
"We have approved one of the recommendations of the Jharkhand government to grant prospecting licence to ArcelorMittal over 662.95 hectares of land in Karampada region," Mines Minister B K Handique said.
Jharkhand had sent two recommendations for allotment of prospecting licence to the world's largest steelmaker in the West Singhbhum district on December 31, 2009.
"Out of which, we have sent back one proposal for grant of prospecting licence over 416.93 hectare to the Jharkhand government for some clarifications and approved the another," he added.
A prospecting licence is approved by the Centre in favour of a mining entity on the recommendation of the respective state government where the mines are located. After getting prospecting licence in the case of iron ore within three years, the company has to apply for the mining licence.
The area for which the prospecting licence has been granted to ArcelorMittal is estimated to house about 200 million tonnes of rich iron ore.
The world's largest steelmaker had entered into a pact with Jharkhand way back in 2005 for setting up a 12 million ton per annum steel plant in Bokaro at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore. But the steelmaker has been facing inordinate delays in land acquisition and regulatory hurdles to launch the venture.
Faced with opposition from villagers from the Khunti, Gumla areas, where the plant was proposed earlier, the global steel giant is making efforts to acquire land at Petarwar in Bokaro district of the state. The entire project requires around 8,000 acres. The London-based NRI billionaire LN Mittal, who heads the steel giant, had last month said that the company was anxious to start work on its proposed greenfield projects in the country, which entail an estimated investment of Rs 1.30 lakh crore.

Steel consumption rose 7.6 percent to 56.32 million tons (mt) in 2009-10 as against 52.35 mt in the year-ago period, on account of rising demand from sectors including automobiles, whitegoods and construction.
However, production rose only 4.2 percent during the reporting period at 59.57 mt over 57.16 mt in the same period last year, according to the provisional data obtained from the Steel Ministry.
Imports also surged by 23 percent to 7.18 mt during the period, thereby further increasing the domestic availability of steel and putting pressure on local prices.
But, exports continued to slide and fell by 28.7 percent to 3.16 mt during the period on account of slow demand recovery in the primary market of Indian goods -Western markets- which are still to recover from the economic crisis.
Leading steel producers like Tata Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) reported 10.5 percent provisional growth to 5.02 mt and 15.7 percent increase to 2.9 mt respectively, during April-March over the same period previous fiscal.
Production of SAIL, increased a meagre 0.9 percent to 10.20 mt against 10.11 mt during the April-March period. The figures are provisional and could not be confirmed with the companies.
Moreover, in March alone steel output rose 6.7 percent to 5.48 mt over the year-ago period. Tata Steel saw output rising 6.4 percent at 4.6 lakh tonne in the month against production of 4.35 lakh tonne during the same month a year ago. However, state-owned SAIL and RINL saw their March production surging by 32.6 percent to 1.26 mt and 83.3 percent to 3.08 lakh ton respectively.
Steel consumption in March increased by 6.8 percent to 5.45 mt over the same month in 2009. In March, imports surged 35.7 percent to 5.66 lakh ton against 4.17 lakh ton last March, while exports nosedived 45.5 percent to 2.18 lakh ton from about 4 lakh ton shipped in March 2009.

Tata Steel will kick off the development works on its proposed multi-purpose Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project near Gopalpur in south Orissa's Ganjam district, once the SEZ is notified.
Though Tata Steel's SEZ project was cleared by the Board of Approvals (BoA) under the Union Commerce Ministry, it is yet to be notified due to problems in possession of land.
“The land possession problems in Chamakahandi and Basanaputi villages will be sorted out very soon. Company authorities have agreed to undertake a fresh survey on the lands being left out in these villages for the payment of compensation and taking physical possession”, said an official of Tata Steel.
Tata Steel had initially planned for establishment of a shore-based mega steel plant near Gopalpur and applied for about 3,700 acres of land. The steel project, however, was shelved due to several reasons including non-availability of the core facilities like water, railway network and above all the strong opposition of the displaced persons.
Meanwhile, the company expects to take physical possession of land for the Gopalpur SEZ very soon. “We have already deposited the amount for the land acquisition and hope to get physical possession very soon for construction of the boundary walls”, said S S Routray, senior manager (administration), Gopalpur SEZ project of Tata Steel.
A tripartite meeting was held between the villagers, company officials and the district administration for physical acquisition of around 51.502 acres of land in Chamakhandi village and around 25 acres in Basanaputi village. This meeting had a very positive response, said Routray.
Once the implementation of the SEZ project starts, Tata Steel will have 2792.659 acres in nine villages including Chamakhandi and Basanaputi villages in its possession, sources said. A high-level review meeting was held recently at Chhatrapur on the land availability for the company's SEZ project. The meeting was presided over by Priyabrata Patnaik, Chairman and Managing Director of Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

JSW Steel is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 7000 crore to ramp up its existing production capacity at Bellary in Karnataka. The capacity of Bellary facility will be increased by 3 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes from the existing 7 million tonnes. The investment was chalked out for the current financial year.
Group chairman Sajjan Jindal had earlier announced that the company would first increase capacity to 10 mtpa and then up it further to 16 mtpa over the next three years. The company would require 5mt both semi-hard and hard coal for the year for which the company is looking at acquiring coal mines in Australia, South Africa, the US and Canada. There is a strong raw material cost pressure at present. The company would go ahead with its West Bengal project for which it has set up a special purpose vehicle called JSW Bengal Steel. Meanwhile, the company reported its production for the January-March period grew by 66 percent to 1.60 million ton on the back of steady rise in demand. The steel maker had an output of 9.7 lakh ton in the year-ago period. The firm also reported a 61 percent jump in output during the fiscal ended March 31, 2010, to 5.99 mt over the same period last year. Moreover, it said production of flat steel products consumed primarily by the automobile industry in January-March rose by 18 percent to 9.7 lakh tons over the same period last year. It had produced 8.3 lakh tons flat steel products in Q4 of FY09. Also, JSW Steel saw output of its long steel products used by infrastructure and construction companies rising by about 255 percent to 3.2 lakh ton during the reporting period over the same period a year ago when it had produced 90,000 tons of such products.

Engineering firm Electrotherm said that they have commissioned the first and world's largest medium frequency induction melting furnaces of 40 ton capacity at Wardha near Nagpur to produce steel billets. The first indigenously developed 40 ton capacity each two induction melting furnaces for Mahalaxmi TMT at Wardha in Nagpur for producing mild steel billets has commenced operation early this month. With introduction of 40 ton capacity furnaces production cost of metal can be lowered by Rs 800 per tonne. Till now the company has been into manufacturing of induction melting furnaces of upto 30 tons capacity, finding application in mini-steel plants. Roughly there are 3,000 mini-steel plants across the country which account for about 25 million tons of production out of 60 million tons steel produced annually in India. There will be substantial contribution from induction melting furnaces in scaling up country's steel production going forward. Electrotherm, engaged in foundry and steel industry announced 'successful' installation of 40 ton furnace, considered to be the world's largest medium frequency induction melting furnace for steel billet making. The company had supplied it to Mahalaxmi TMT, Wardha in Gujarat, equipped with 14,000 KW energy and could produce about 1.6 lakh metric ton metal per year. The furnace used for steel melting application had also commenced its commercial production of the furnace. The new 40 ton/14 MW series furnace is the largest level of automation made available to the industry. Electrotherm has executed more than a dozen projects overseas.

A technical team from South Korean steel major Posco would visit Karnataka for exploring mining linkages to its proposed Rs 32,300 crore steel plant in the state. A Karnataka delegation led by Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, Murugesh R Nirani, met top management executives of Posco at the company headquarters in Seoul, an official statement said. Posco expressed their happiness for having approved the projects for establishment of six million tons per annum integrated steel plant with finex technology in Karnataka with investment of Rs 32,300 crore. The company held discussions on the investment plan and mining lease for their unit, and informed that they would be sending a technical team to Karnataka for exploring mining linkages. The minister assured the company all support from Karnataka government for establishing their plant. The delegation is in Seoul as part of Karnataka's roadshow for the Global Investors' Meet to be held in the state between June 3-4, 2010.

Indian steel makers are likely to face strong margin pressures in FY11 on escalating costs of key raw materials and concerns that an inflation-wary government may cap steep price hikes hurting profitability. Producers will have to raise prices by up to 4,000 rupees a ton in the fiscal year ending March 2011 to offset the cost push, Deutche Bank analysts Abhay Laijawala and Anuj Singla said in a research note this month, reports said. Steel firms raised prices by up to 10 percent, or 3,000 rupees a tonne in April to offset higher cost of iron ore and coking coal, but analysts said pricing pressures will continue to trouble producers especially from the second quarter. Coke and iron ore prices have really gone up. A cost efficient company can face impact between US$150-200 per ton. Steel firms are expected to sign coking coal contracts with miners around US$200 a ton from April, an increase of about 55 percent, adding about US$16 a tonne to the cost of steel. Iron ore price contracts could rise 40-50 percent. Iron ore prices have surged more than two-fold in the last 12 months on strong demand from China and a recovery in Europe and the US to near US$160 a ton. Indian steel makers battled soaring raw material costs in the second half of 2008/09, while steel prices slumped as the global economic crisis hit demand. The firms reported steep fall in profits or even losses in the quarter-ended March 2009. This time the companies are signing quarterly contracts for raw material. So globally if prices correct, the next contract can be signed at lower levels in the next quarter itself. Integrated players like Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) are better placed as they have secured raw material sourcing unlike JSW Steel, Ispat Industries and others, which depend on external sources. However, analysts are concerned that steel makers will not be able to pass on the entire cost to the consumers due to government pressures, posing a big investment risk for brokers. Even if steel prices rise by more than US$150 per ton globally, local producers may not be able to pass on hikes beyond US$100-110 due to government pressures, Deutche Bank analysts said.

Leading private sector steel producer Tata Steel said it is not against iron ore exports as that is against free market norms as also because domestic steel demand is expected to go up by 10-12 per cent this fiscal. Tata Steel managing Director HM Nerurkar said that it is not against iron ore exports. Exports will come down if the demand in the country increases due to more steel consumption, Nerurkar said when his reaction was sought to the demand for banning iron ore exports. Tata Steel had earlier opposed exports of iron ore saying it would be harmful to the development of domestic steel industry. Nerurkar said the prices of iron ore and coking coal, the two major inputs for steel-making, are expected to rise by 80-90 percent during the year. Steel demand in the country is expected to rise 10-12 percent during this year. Meanwhile, the company's sales grew by 18 percent to 6.1 million ton in 2009-10 compared to 5.2 million ton in the previous fiscal. The production of saleable steel was higher by 20 percent at 6.4 million ton during the year against 5.3 million ton produced in the previous fiscal. However, margins were under pressure and would remain so in the coming year due to expected sharp rise in input cost and oversupply in the global market, he added. The company's capacity in Indian operations, restricted in Jamshedpur at 7 million ton, would be ramped up to 10 million ton.

Top Indian steel makers including Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tata Steel and Essar saw up to 15 percent increase in sales in March from a year ago owing to robust demand from automobile and infrastructure sectors.
The growth in steel demand is a key indicator of industrial activity, which had slumped early last year due to the economic downturn. Most steel companies were then operating at less than 60 percent of their production capacity. “Recent hike in steel prices is a clear indication of the increase in demand. Anticipating further spurt in the metal price, consumers have started stocking up steel,” said a person close to SAIL. Top Indian steelmakers including SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar hiked prices by up to Rs 3,000/tonne, effective April 1. The metal prices are expected to move up further due to rise in raw material prices, particularly iron ore.
India's largest steel maker SAIL posted eight percent sales growth at 1.4 million ton in March from a year ago. While Tata Steel's sales growth was marginal last month for the fiscal ending March 2010 its sales grew 18 percent to around 6.2 million ton. Mumbai-based Ispat almost tripled sales to over 0.25 million ton last month helped by strong demand from the auto sector and a low base effect. “Our plant was partially shut for maintenance in March last year, so the sales figure are not comparable,” Ispat Industries Director (Finance) Anil Surekha said.

Within days of granting a mining licence to ArcelorMittal at Karampada in Jharkhand, the Mines Ministry has asked the state to expedite its response to the centre's query over the state's recommendation to grant another such right to the steel giant in the same area. Recently, the centre had sought certain clarifications from the state on its recommendation for granting prospecting licence to the steel major for iron ore mining over 416.93 hectares at Karampada in West Singhbhum district while granting mining licence for 662.95 hectares in the same area. According to reports, the Mines Ministry again wrote a letter to Jharkhand reminding it to expedite its response over some clarifications it had sought last month on one of the recommendations of the state to grant prospecting licence to ArcelorMittal for iron ore mining in the Karampada region. Jharkhand had sent two recommendations for allotment of prospecting licence to the world's largest steelmaker in West Singhbhum district on December 31, 2009. Out of the two proposals, one mining plan over 416.93 hectare falls under an area which is legally not cleared for mining. When contacted, Jharkhand Mines and Industries Secretary NN Sinha said the state has received the earlier query of the centre and would respond soon. The world's largest steelmaker had entered into a pact with Jharkhand way back in 2005 for setting up a 12-million ton per annum (mtpa) steel plant at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore but has been facing inordinate delays in land acquisition and regulatory hurdles to launch the venture. Faced with opposition from villagers from the Khunti, Gumla areas, where the plant was proposed earlier, the steel giant is making efforts to acquire land at Petarwar in Bokaro district of the state.

India's Tata Steel is continuing efforts alongside European unit Corus to find a solution for the Teesside plant and remained open for offers from third parties, Tata said. The company responding to a report said the group was close to calling off its plan to sell the plant because prospective buyers were wary of high raw material costs.
At last year's prices, the 3 million tons Teesside plant spends more than US$500 million on raw materials.
"Corus and Tata Steel are continuing their efforts to find a long-term solution for Teesside Cast Products and remain open to credible offers from third parties interested in providing such a solution," a Corus spokesman said.
Earlier this month, a Tata Steel official had said hardening raw material prices could inflate its cost of production in Europe by US$140 to US$150 a ton.
Corus started a partial closure of its Teesside plant in February, after it failed to secure a long-term partner for the site's output.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, is eyeing another strategic buy in India.
Six months after it bought equity in speciality steel producer Uttam Galva, the company is in talks with Delhi-based Ferro Alloys Corporation (Facor) for a strategic stake.
The promoters of Facor — the Saraf family — are planning to diversify into the power business and want to divest a part of their stake to raise funds. Facor is valued for its chrome ore mining complex in Orissa.
“ArcelorMittal has shown interest in the stake buy and the due diligence will start soon,” said an official familiar with the development. “We would like to dilute the promoter's equity to raise funds for expansion in power business,” said Ashish Saraf, Joint Managing Director in the company which has appointed Ernst & Young to do the valuation and look for a strategic partner.
The company needs Rs 2,500 crore for setting up a 500 MW power plant. Saraf declined to quantify the stake the promoters are willing to dilute, nor did he want to specify the target price. “They (ArcelorMittal) may have shown interest but we are directly not in touch. Ernst and Young is yet to come back to us with the names of interested companies,” he said.
Billionaire Laksmi N Mittal promoted ArcelorMittal signed a co-promotion agreement with Mumbai-based Uttam Galva in September. It completed the buyout in March, paying an estimated Rs 500 crore for the 33.8 percent stake in the company. Following this, both ArcelorMittal and the current promoters of Uttam Galva are equal partners in the company.
Facor has the capacity to produce 65,000 ton per annum of Ferro Chrome and 2,50,000 ton per annum of Chrome Ore at its plant in Orissa. It has also established a mining complex at Bhadrak in Orissa for the mining of Chrome Ore, the main raw material for the production of Ferro Chrome.