December, 11 2005
India's economic growth restrained by coal & electricity sector
Indian Finance Minister Mr P Chidambaram said that India could have grown over 8% this year if it had not been bogged down by the sluggish growth in the coal and electricity sector and called upon the CMs of the various states to resolve the coal issue by this year so that economic growth of over 8% could be achieved by next fiscal.
Mr Chidambaram, who announced the media review of economic growth of 9% in the first half, said the coal industry still do not have a proper legal and economic framework and it needs to be formulated in collaboration with the state government.
TATAs investment plan in Bangladesh depends on gas pricing
TATA may reconsider its proposed US$ 2.5 billion investment venture in Bangladesh over difference on the availability and pricing of gas. If we do not get gas at a price which we are looking for, there is no point of doing business there," said Tata Sons director Dr JJ Irani said. "This is simply because Bangladesh does not have iron ore. So, only advantage there is gas," he told media
Dr Irani is reported to have said that "Bangladesh government is reportedly not willing to give gas at a concessional rate to Tata group and if Tata does not get the required concession from the Bangladesh government, there is hardly any chance to realize the investment plan"
TATA group signed an expression of interest with Bangladesh Government earlier this year for investing $2.5 billion in steel, power and fertilizer sectors. TATA officials and Bangladesh government had a series of negotiations to finalize the investment agreement. But, both sides failed to come to a consensus over gas supply and its pricing.
VSP launches sewage recycling system
An ultra filtration system based sewage recycling system, the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, was inaugurated at VSP by the CMD Mr Y Sivasagara Rao. The project, costing Rs 5 crore, is meant for treating sewage through tertiary clarifier, multi-grade filters and ultra filtration with two-point chlorination. The unit was supplied by Vantech Wabag Ltd, Chennai, on turnkey basis.
RINLs CMD He said that the system would result in a saving of 1 million gallons per day of water, amounting to Rs 1.3 crore per annum in monetary terms and apart from good savings to VSP, the project will contribute significantly to the improvement of the environs and result in conservation of precious natural resources
One killed in Jammu Steel factory blast
One person was killed and two were injured in a blast at a steel factory Narmada Steel Industries at Bari Brahamana industrial area in Jammu district around 0645 hours on Saturday. There was also minor damage to the factory.
The exact cause of the blast is not known but could have happened due to scrap containing explosive. Police has registered a case and investigations are on.
Ion Exchange merges four regional companies
ION Exchange (India) Ltd, a water solution provider, announced the merger of its four regional associate service companies into a single entity, Ion Exchange Services Ltd. With this merger, it has become the largest service company in the Indian water treatment industry. Ion Exchange now has over 600 service personnel operating through four regional offices, 14 branches and 75 territory offices across the country. The company has also extended its service operations to Nepal and Bangladesh.
The consolidation of the service network is expected to bring economies of scale, more efficient resource utilization and distribution and a uniform identity. Service revenues are also expected to increase annually by 20% cent for the next few years.
GAIL enters technical tie-up with Norwegian firm
State owned GAIL has inked a memorandum of cooperation with Norway's Natural Gas Hydrate NGH for developing synthetic natural gas hydrate storage and transportation technology. The pact was signed by GAIL Chairman Mr Proshanto Banerjee and Mr Oscar Fr Graff VP Gas Technology of Aker Kvaerner and Mr Jon Steinar Gudmundsson of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in London
The scope of the agreement includes feasibility studies of natural gas hydrate transport as an alternative to conventional pipeline and LNG transport.
NGH is a technology company established by Aker Kvaerner Engineering and Technology AS. Natural Gas Hydrate has been identified as a promising non pipeline gas transport method for reasonable volumes and transport distances. Natural gas hydrate is a solid ice like compound composed of natural gas and water. Such hydrates are formed under moderate conditions and are stable at atmospheric pressure and about minus 15 degrees Celsius.
Anshan starts new BF
Angang Group New Iron & Steel Co Anshan has successfully blown in its new No. 2 blast furnace. The new BF has a hearth diameter of 12.4 meters and an effective volume of 3200 m3 resulting in production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year.
The orders were placed in 2003 with Paul Wurth and its units at Luxembourg, Beijing and Essen designed the BF, supplied key components and supervised erection and commissioning. The new BF complex incorporates a central bell less top charging feed system, an INBA slag granulation system, a gas cleaning system and a pulverized coal injection system.
Contracts on the same scope for BLT, INBA and gas cleaning have been awarded to the Paul Wurth Group for the construction of two further blast furnaces BF3 & BF4 by Angang. The start-up of BF3 being scheduled to take place in December 2005
Pakistan Steel Mill bid likely on January 16th 2006
Pakistan Steel Mill PSM will be handed over to new management in the first quarter of next year, Mr Abdul Qayyum, chairman PSM said while addressing a forum of national and international pre qualified bidders and their representatives. He also said the steel mill would be privatized along with 4,500 acres of land.
Mr Qayyum said that the bidding for the steel mill would be held on January 16
Allegheny Technologies to spend $225 million on upgrades
Allegheny Technologies Inc has announced that it will spend $225 million next year on capital improvements, including previously announced plans to expand titanium and specialty alloy production.
However it clarified that none of the money is earmarked for a rumored steckel mill but is considering several options. "The company maintains it has a strategy to improve hot rolling capabilities. The company is considering several options, but no decision has been made. There's nothing more to say," said spokesman Mr Dan L Greenfield
Allegheny Ludlum hot rolls stainless steel slabs from its plant in Midland, Beaver County, at facilities in Brackenridge, Allegheny County, and Houston, Washington County.
Corus Salzgitter develop HSD steel for automotives
Corus and Salzgitter have reported development of a new High Strength and Ductility steel HSD steel that they believe will have extensive automotive use. HSD offers automotive engineers weight reduction, crash resistance and the ability to design parts with complex structures and high strength. The material would provide good collision protection because the metal offers a great deal of hardness, in addition to its ability to be bent and straightened.
Corus and Salzgitter expect that HSD will be available to the market in 2006.
Mr Joe Benedyk, a research professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology said that This sounds like a very tough steel. A material like this should have excellent crash resistance because it is very strong and very elastic. This reminds me of Hatfield manganese steel, which is used in prison bars because its so tough you wont be able to break it because it bends, if you want to cut through it with a hacksaw youll need a lot of patience and a lot of blades.
Mr Benedyk, who is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and a close observer of the automotive metals industry, sees the development of HSD and other steels as the steel industrys efforts to compete with aluminum. There is so much competition for lightweighting in these automotive materials that the steel industry has begun to call their steels lightweight steels. Theres no such thing as lightweight steel, says Benedyk. What there is, he says, are stronger steels that can be formed into parts with thinner walls and less weight, which is what is pushing research into new kinds of steels.
North European Gas Pipeline construction begins
Gazprom, Russias gas major has begun the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline. The official ceremony was held on Friday to mark the beginning of the construction. The ceremony was attended by Russian PM Mr Mikhail Fradkov, Industry and Energy Minister Mr Viktor Khristenko, Gazprom CEO Mr Alexei Miller, German Economy Minister Mr Michael Glos, Mr Wulf Bernotat chairman of EON, and Mr Juergen Hambrecht CEO of BASF.
The premier called the pipeline project the largest cooperation project in the gas sphere between Russia and Europe. He said the new pipeline would significantly simplify the transportation of Russian gas through third countries, creating conditions for more stable supplies to Europe. On the whole, he stressed, this was a very beneficial project for the Russian economy.
In September 2005, Russias gas giant Gazprom, German chemicals manufacturer BASF and EON Ruhrgas signed a deal to build a gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea. In the new venture, called North European Gas Pipeline Company, Gazprom will hold 51% and BASF and EOn will have 24.5% each. The pipeline will stretch for more than 1,200 kilometers, from the city of Vyborg in the north-west of Russia, to Germany's northeastern city of Greifswald.
The new gas pipeline is expected to go on-stream in 2010, with an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters. A second planned pipeline could double capacity to around 55 billion cubic meters a year. Overall costs for two pipelines would be above EUR 4 billion
Chinas coal exports down by 15%
China's coal exports have fallen by about 15% this year due to a drop in orders and the government's macro-controls to concentrate on domestic demand. China is expected to export 74 million tons of coal products, including thermal coal, metallurgical coal and anthracite the end of 2005, 6 million tons less than the government-set quota of 80 million tons. China exported 60.76 million tons of coal in the first 10 months of this year. China exported 87 million tons of coal products during 2004
Industry authorities on Friday said this year's decrease is because of factors on both the domestic and international markets. One of the reasons reported by Mr Hao Xiangbin, head of the research arm of the China Coal Industry Association CCIA for shortfall is that some coal exporters did not honor their annual contracts with foreign buyers in 2004, in terms of both quality and quantity, damaging the reputation of domestic coal suppliers. Mr Xianbin also contributed the shortfall to higher prices offered by Chinese companies
However Mr Wu Chenghou, ED of the Coal Sale and Transportation Association of China, told that the country's incoherent export policy has discouraged foreign buyers, because they fear China would not secure those stable supplies.
Largest Shipbuilding Company launched in Dalian
Dalian based China's biggest shipbuilding company was launched Friday through a consolidation between two state-owned shipyards in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province. The new firm, based at the Dalian Shipyard and Dalian New Shipyard, has been named the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (Group) Co Ltd., with a registered capital of nearly 3.4 billion yuan ($419.7 million). The Dalian Shipyard, built in 1898, had total assets of 5.7 billion yuan ($703 million) and more than 10,000 employees at the end of 2004. Total assets of the Dalian New Shipyard, formed 15 years ago, stood at 7.4 billion yuan ($913.5 million) at the end of 2004, employing 5,800 people.
The China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, a central government-controlled conglomerate, is the biggest shareholder of the new company, controlling 75.85%.The remaining shares are held by China Construction Bank's branch in Dalian, the China Huarong Asset Management Corp and China Orient Asset Management Corp.
"We aim to make the new company a leader in China's shipbuilding industry amid intense competition from international and domestic rivals," said Mr Sun Bo, chairman of the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry. Mr Sun added that the company's shipbuilding capacity would reach 2.66 million deadweight tonnages next year and increase to 6 million by 2010 and to 8.5 million by 2020. Meanwhile, its actual output will top 2 million tonnages next year and grow to 5 million by 2010 and to 7.4 million in another 10 years.
The creation of the firm is seen as a landmark in China shipbuilding industry's expansion plans over the next decade. The China Shipbuilding Industry also expects to become one of the world's top 500 multinationals during a five-year period from 2010
Duraloy uses nickel aluminide to increase hot conveyor rolls life
Duraloy Technologies, a Scottdale, Pa., company that makes equipment for the steel industry, has licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL an alloy called nickel aluminide to explore its application in conveyors rolls used to transport sheets of steel through mills and high temperature treatment furnaces. The material, which combines metal with ceramic, is extremely strong, impervious to heat and resistant to the warping and buckling that requires frequent outages to repair and replace the rolls steel mills currently use.
Mr Tony Martocci, a steel industry consultant who was associated with ORNL in developing the furnace rolls using nickel aluminide at Bethlehem Steel at Burns Harbor said that "It's just a fantastic new alloy. Mr Martocci estimates the new materials will give steel furnace rolls, which typically last two to five years, a life of at least 10 years under heavy use.
The problem with the old rolls, he said, is that because of high temperatures in the furnaces where sheets of steel are treated, the rolls warp and bubble and can damage the final product. As a result, steel plants must shut down production every couple of weeks to polish the rolls, costing the company in production, energy and labor.
After Bethlehem Steel installed in its furnace rolls developed by ORNL and built by Duraloy over a period of several years beginning in the mid-1990s, the furnace did not have to be shut down for two years, Mr Martocci said. The company has been working on the technology with lab researchers for nine years.
Investigation team formed to look into Tanshang blast
An investigation team under the State Council has been set up to investigate the colliery blast in Tangshan in north China's Hebei Province and oversee rescue work. Comprising of investigators from the State Administration of Work Safety, the Hebei provincial government and the Ministry of Supervision, the team will work to discover the cause of the accident, in which 90 miners have been confirmed dead and 18 are still missing.
The team will also estimate the economic losses from the accident and make recommendations on appropriate punishments for those responsible. They will also suggest measures to prevent such accidents in the future.
The coal mine, formerly state-owned, was privatized in 2002. It has a projected annual output of 150,000 tons.
Stelco Approves Second Amended Restructuring Plan
Directors of Stelco Inc approved a second amended restructuring plan December 8, to be considered by creditors and filed with the court overseeing the steel maker's bankruptcy reorganization before the previously adjourned meetings of affected creditors resume on December 9.
Mr Courtney Pratt, Stelco president and CEO, said, "The board has approved this second amended plan in response to concerns raised by bondholder representatives about the amended plan we announced on December 5, 2005. Specifically, the second amended plan provides an opportunity for equity participation by the unsecured creditors and makes that opportunity optional. We believe that this adjustment, together with the other elements of the second amended plan which are identical to those in the plan of December 5, 2005 address the interests of our stakeholders in a fair and responsible way."
According to Stelco, the "substantive change" from the December 5 amended plan concerns the unsecured creditors' options for recovery. They will continue to receive a pro rata share of secured floating rate notes, but the cash pool that had been set at $137.5 million has been reset to range from "a minimum of $106,562,500 to a maximum of $137.5 million."
In another change, regarding the unsecured creditors' portion of 1.1 million new common shares, affected creditors may now elect to receive up to an additional 5.625 million new common shares.
China to optimize energy consumption in metallurgy
China will set higher standards for participation in the iron and steel industry and continue to eliminate outdated manufacturing plants and equipment to further reduce energy consumption next year.
Mr Zhang Guobao deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission NDRC said "On one hand, we will eliminate the outdated manufacturing equipment. Now there are still quite a few equipments that are using excessive amount of energy, and they are to be removed. In addition, we will raise the standard for entry to the iron and steel industry, controlling the incidence of reckless production."
Shougang mining & Byelorussia Autoworks sign for service center
Beijing based Shougang Corporation and Byelorussian Autoworks have recently clinched a deal on jointly building a technological service center for heavy-duty mining vehicles. Mr Zhu Jimin, board chairman of the Shougang, and Mr Rusetski, industry minister of Byelorussia, attended the signing ceremony for the agreement held here recently between the Shougang Mining Company and the Production Association Byelorussia Autoworks.
The two sides will provide better service for the Chinese customers of Byelorussian Autoworks and at the same time, promote the sales of Byelorussian products," said Mr Rusetski.
Mr Zhu Jimin said the Shougang Mining Company began to use the heavy-duty mining vehicles made by the Byelorussian company at the end of the 1970s and has since used more than 500 vehicles. It has accumulated experience in the use, maintenance and management of such vehicles. The newly established service center will provide technical support to all products of the Byelorussian Autoworks in China.
Delphi names two new board members
Delphi Corp announced that it has elected two new directors Mr Raymond J Milchovich current CEO of Foster Wheeler Ltd, and Mr John H Walker CEO of The Boler Company. Mr Milchovich will serve on Delphi's Compensation and Executive Development Committee and Mr Walker will serve on Delphi's Audit Committee.
Mr Milchovich joined Foster Wheeler Ltd in 2001. Previously he was the President CEO and chairman of Kaiser Aluminum Corp. He has also served on the board of Nucor Corp.
Mr Walker joined The Boler Company in 2003. Previously, he was COO President and CEO for Weirton Steel Corp. Walker was also with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in the mid 1980s.
China cuts import tax on Alumina
China, the world's biggest aluminum producer, may cut the import tax on alumina next year to make it cheaper for smelters to buy the raw material
The tax may be lowered to 5.5% from 8%, Mr Wang Feihong, an analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co, said yesterday. Antaike is a research affiliate of the state-owned China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.
China arrests 2 coal mine bosses for 2004 explosion
Two coal mine managers have been arrested in connection with one of China's deadliest recent mining disasters, a gas explosion that killed 166 miners last year. The explosion ripped through the Chenjiashan Coal Mine in the northwestern city of Tongchuan on Nov. 28, 2004.
Mr Liu Shuangming, the mine's former director, and Mr Wang Yujun, its former deputy director and chief engineer, were arrested Friday, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing police. It didn't say what charges or possible penalties they would face.
In 2001, the same mine suffered a gas explosion that killed 38 miners, according to Xinhua.
China's new company law makes entry of new businesses easier
The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation said that China's newly-revised Corporation Law drastically lowered the minimum capital required for domestic firms to begin operations. The new requirement, which will come into force on Jan. 1, 2006, is set at 30,000 yuan ($3,703) for limited liability companies in all industries, the bank and IFC said in a report titled "Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs".
Previously, entrepreneurs who wished to open a manufacturing or wholesaling business had to put down 500,000 yuan, as compared to 300,000 yuan in retailing and 100,000 yuan in services. The new law allows as much as 70 percent of the total registered capital to be in non-cash contributions such as intellectual property or technology, according to the report, which was cosponsored by the bank and IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group
