India's steel imports increase 51.6% in April 08/05/2015

India's steel imports increase 51.6% in April
08/05/2015 14:44
India’s steel imports have increased 51.6 per cent to 0.76 million tonnes (MT) last month compared with the year-ago period, PTI reported.
"Import of total finished steel, at 0.761 MT in April 2015, saw a growth of 51.6 per cent over April 2014 and decline by 9.4 per cent over March 2015," PTI quoted a Steel Ministry official as saying this.
Commenting on the issue a steel company executive said,” Domestic steel industry is going through tough times, mainly due to a decline in demand in China, the world's largest steel producer. Importing steel from China was cheaper than producing it here and this led to imports, especially in the second half of 2014."
As per PTI report, steel imports grew 71 per cent to 9.321 MT in 2014-15, with India remaining a net importer in the previous fiscal. Imports in March 2015 rose 91.8 per cent to 0.84 MT, but down 14.8 per cent compared with February 2015. While steel exports in April was at 0.38 MT, down 15.2 per cent year-on-year.

Steel consumption growth rebounds to 3.5% to 63 MT in Apr-Jan 06/02/2015

Steel consumption growth rebounds to 3.5% to 63 MT in Apr-Jan
06/02/2015 00:43
India's steel consumption grew by 3.5 per cent to 62.98 million tonnes (MT) during April-January period of the current fiscal, reported PTI.
Steel production grew by 5.3 per cent to 75.79 MT in the same period, while imports of total finished steel gone up by 60.9 per cent to 7.4 MT.
Exports declined by 12.9 per cent to 4.3 MT.
The rise in consumption might augur well for domestic steel-makers, almost all of which are raising their capacity to contribute to government's aim of trebling installed capacity to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2025-26.
It may be noted that consumption growth was subdued at 1.4 per cent during April-December period of the current fiscal.
The country, which is the fourth largest steel maker in the world, had consumed 60.844 MT steel in the corresponding period last year, data complied by Joint Plant Committee (JPC) showed. JPC is a body under the Steel Ministry.
Steel consumption was up by just 0.6 per cent in the entire 2013-14, its lowest in four years, at 73.93 MT compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, on production front, major firms such as SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and RINL together produced 38.6 MT during April-January, clocking a 3.3 per cent growth over the same period last fiscal The rest was by mini and other producers.
"India remained a net importer of total finished steel in April-January," JPC said

Steel makers roll over prices 05/02/2015

Steel makers roll over prices
05/02/2015 00:09
Facing a double-whammy of subdued demand and higher imports, domestic steel makers have decided against raising prices for February even as their margins are under pressure, reported PTI.
"There is a tremendous pressure on margins as input costs are higher. However, we are not in a position to raise prices as domestic steel demand has remained subdued for some months now. Higher import is also a huge concern," a senior executive with a private sector steel firm said.
With no change, the price of hot-rolled coil, considered as the benchmark steel product, now stands at around Rs 33,000 per tonne.
"Demand has been naggingly weak all through the current fiscal. The problem has got compounded with the huge spurt in imports. Even long products are coming into indiscriminately making our lives difficult," he said.
India's steel consumption grew by 1.4 per cent during the April-December period of the current fiscal at 55.24 million tonnes, impacted by economic slowdown. Imports, on the other hand, went up significantly to 6.51 MT, up 58.1 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
India used to import mainly high-end flat products meant for automobiles and other sectors. But, now-a-days even long products used in the construction sector are coming in large quantities at a landed cost almost similar to domestic prices.
Easy availability of the raw material at a cheaper costs could have put a lid on surging imports and raise potential to hike prices to ease the pressure on margins.
Indian steel makers are dependent imported coking coal, one of the key raw materials for steel-making. They have in recent months also started alleging shortage of iron ore, another important input, domestically and resorted to imports.
Pressure would perhaps ease for some of the steel firms as the country's largest iron ore producer NMDC has decided to reduce the prices in the range between Rs 200-300 per tonne for the current month

Centre to pump in Rs 1.5 lakh cr in 4 new steel plants 02/02/2015

Centre to pump in Rs 1.5 lakh cr in 4 new steel plants
02/02/2015 00:02
The Centre said it will pump Rs 1,50,000 crore for building four new steel plants of 20-24 million tonnes combined capacity in collaboration with the governments in four states, reported PTI.
"We have decided to build four new steel plants and four dedicated mining companies to feed these plants in four states partnering the respective state governments. We aim for six million tonnes capacity for each plant," Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on the sidelines of an expansion review meeting.
Based on investment of Rs 6,000 crore for each million tonne of steel and associated cost for mining, the total investment will be in excess of Rs 1,50,000 crore.
"We have decided to form SPVs for each plant and mining companies. We are already holding discussion with state governments. I had positive discussion with the Chattisgarh and Odisha and shortly we will talk with Karnataka and Jharkhand governments," Tomar said.
He said the plan for new capacity has been envisaged to boost 'Made in India' focus and take the steel capacity of the country to 300 million tonnes by 2025 from 80 odd tonnes.
As per the plan, SAIL will invest in Chattisgarh, Rastriya Inspat Nigam Ltd in Odisha, NMDC Ltd in Jharkhand and Karnataka.
SAIL Chairman C S Verma said the details of SPVs are yet to be worked out but for each project, two SPVs will be floated, one for mining and another for plant.
Tomar was confident that new reforms and transparency in mining sector will help the steel sector come out of the current crisis.
He said all mines will now will be auctioned for sake of transparency.
Now, with Mining and Minerals Development Regulation Amendment Ordinance, now mineral producing states will have no additional power to stop inter-state mineral movement, Tomar said.
This will help states like West Bengal in attracting steel plants that do not have iron-ore.
Presently, states impose restriction on inter-state movement of minerals to retain investment in their own states.

Moody’s sees positive outlook for steel majors 27/11/2014

Moody’s sees positive outlook for steel majors
27/11/2014 13:06
Leading global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, expects an improvement in profitability for the country’s leading steel companies such as SAIL, JSW Steel and Tata Steel next year driven by capacity additions and high utilisation rates.
“Capacity additions and high utilisation rates at existing plants will boost profitability for large Indian producers such as JSW Steel, SAIL and Tata Steel”, Moody’s said.
Moody’s sees demand for steel rising a modest 3 per cent, outstripping net production capacity additions and leading to increased utilisation rates. Further, a decline in raw material costs may also boost the profitability of steelmakers.
“Demand for steel will likely increase a modest 3 per cent, outpacing net production capacity additions and driving increased utilisation rates. Declining raw material costs will also support the steelmakers' profitability,” the rating agency said.
Being the largest consumer of steel in the world, China will continue to dictate the demand outlook; Moody’s which sees a stable outlook for the steel industry, said.
“But the country's steel producers remain the least profitable in Asia because of domestic oversupply”, the global rating agency said.