Steel Production

State-owned steel maker RINL is aiming to produce 55,000 wheels in the current financial year to meet the demand from Indian Railways, its CMD Atul Bhatt said. Visakhapatnam-based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has set up a forged wheel plant at Lalganj, in Uttar Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 2,350-crore with a capacity to manufacture one lakh forged wheels per annum. "RINL supplied 2,465 Loco wheels and 2,639 LHB wheels to Railways in FY23. Preliminary Acceptance Certificate (PAC) has been issued for the plant and very soon production will be ramped up to 55,000 wheels in the current fiscal to meet the demand of Railways," he told PTI. The steel maker started supplying wheels in December 2021 when the first consignment of 51 loco wheels was flagged off from its Rae Bareli unit in Uttar Pradesh to the Railways. The targeted 50 per cent utilisation of the plant will significantly reduce the dependence on imports and help the national transporter to source the Made in India ..

India's crude steel production rose by 5.80 per cent to 124.45 million tonne (MT) in 2022, according to SteelMint. The country had produced 117.63 MT crude steel in 2021, the market research firm said. The production of finished steel was at 110.03 MT, up from over 104.54 MT a year ago, SteelMint said in its latest report. The consumption of finished steel rose to 106.48 MT, as against 98.39 MT in 2021, a year-on-year rise of 8 per cent. SteelMint attributed the increase in output and consumption to "continuous focus of the government on the infrastructure sector." According to the report, the exports in 2022 have registered a fall over the previous year, while the imports have grown in the year ended December 31. At 4.77 MT, the imports were 21 per cent higher against 3.94 MT in 2021. The exports registered a sharp fall of 44 per cent to 10.37 MT in 2022 compared to 18.5 MT a year ago. The import of raw material coking coal was almost flat at 55.94 MT in 2022, the report said.

As many as 440 jobs could be impacted by the plans, though Liberty will attempt to retain them through its furlough and redeployment program

Coal India, companies with captive coal mines in steel, power and other sectors will be at an advantage

The domestic steel industry must adopt new age technologies and carry out research and development (R&D) activities to utilise the low-grade iron ore in their production, the government said on Thursday. The production of low-grade iron ore is increasing in the country compared to high-grade ores, Steel Secretary Sanjay Singh said. "Industry must collaborate in....the country's preparedness for producing all kinds of speciality steel, utilising about 100 million tonne (MT) low quality ore around the mines by converting them into high quality, adoption of high level technology, and develop a common strategy for R&D collaboration," the official said at the 'CII Steel Summit 2022' here. On Tuesday, Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had urged the domestic steel industry to adopt low-carbon emitting steel-making processes, while cautioning that key raw materials coking coal and iron ore may not be a viable option in the future based on environmental, social, and governance .

State-owned miner MOIL produced 1.2 lakh tonne of manganese ore last month, registering a growth of 60 per cent over October. The state-owned firm is braced for much better performance in the remaining period of the ongoing fiscal year, the steel ministry said in a statement. "On the sales front, MOIL has recorded a growth of 82 per cent during the period over the previous month, in spite of challenging market conditions," it said. MOIL, under the steel ministry, is the largest producer of manganese ore in the country and operates 11 mines in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The PSU holds about 34 per cent of the manganese ore reserves of the country. The company has an ambitious vision of almost doubling its production to 3 million tonne by 2030. MOIL is also exploring business opportunities in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha besides other areas in Madhya Pradesh.

Labour cost increased 8-10% and reinforcement steel prices went up about 20%, says study scanning cities

To maintain higher capacity utilisation, exports are necessary for local steel players expanding their capacities, as demand is not directly proportional to production, according to a top industry executive. "Since expansion happens... there will be a certain stage where you necessarily will have to export, if we have to be on high capacity utilisation," Dilip Oommen, CEO of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India told PTI. His comments assume significance as steel players are looking up to the government for relief in the form of roll back of the duties levied on steel exports. On May 21, the government hiked the duty on exports of iron ore by up to 50 per cent and for a few steel intermediaries to 15 per cent. In line with the government's 300 MT steel making capacity target, other steel players like Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL and JSPL are also expanding their capacities to meet the goal. AMNS India on Friday commenced a Rs 60,000-crore expansion project to scale up its Hazira

Global macroeconomic challenges to shape turnaround of JSW Steel and Bhushan Power & Steel

Led by an increase in volumes, the firm saw net sales increase by 28.9 per cent at Rs 41,122 crore

Currency depreciation of over 6% may have supported uptrend; industry players confident that prices have bottomed out

The Essar Group is looking to invest USD 4 billion in setting up an integrated flat steelworks plant in Saudi Arabia in the next three years, a senior company official said. The plant, which will cost Saudi Riyal 15 billion (USD 4 billion), is scheduled to break ground by this year-end and be completed by the end of 2025, said Amar Kapadia, general manager for corporate planning at Essar. The new 4-million tonnes per annum integrated flat steelworks plant will have continuous casting and hot strip capacity, 1-million tonnes of cold rolled coil capacity, and a tin plate line in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City on Saudi Arabia's east coast. The new facility will also have two direct reduced iron plants, each with a 2.5-million tonnes a year capacity. Essar signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Arabia's National Industrial Development Centre (NIDC) in October 2021, and an agreement with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) for land allocation in December. "We ha

The domestic market has also seen a sharp correction in steel prices from peak levels

Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia emphasised on the need to promote domestically produced steel or 'Made In India' steel, as self-reliance in its production was a top priority.

Both the Netherlands and UK facilities have turned around but the transition to a green steel future may differ

Steel prices were in correction mode before the government imposed the export duty, impacting about 95 per cent of the steel export basket. Post-export duty, prices fell further

Futures prices of steel on National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) have softened significantly in the past one to one-and-a-half month period.

Revenue up 74 per cent YoY to Rs 46,895 crore as company says its opportunities for exports are expanding.

India produced 120 million tonne (MT) of crude steel during financial year ended March 31, 2022, Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh has said. At 120 MT, the output was about 18 per cent higher compared to the country's production in the preceding fiscal year. According to official data, India produced around 102 MT steel in 2020-21. "Steel sector in India has traversed a fascinating journey from a mere 1 MT at the time of independence to 120 MT in the last (2021-22) financial year," a steel ministry statement quoted Singh as saying at National Metallurgist Award 2021 on Wednesday. The award has been instituted to recognize contributions of metallurgists working in the field of iron and steel. The areas covered in the award are manufacturing, research and development (R&D), design, education, waste management, energy conservation and their specific contribution to achieve objectives of the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission. In his address, Singh further said steel ...

Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has stopped production at its Kryvyi Rih facility in Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict between the eastern European country and Russia