Indian iron ore export tax to be reviewed

Buckling under pressure from iron ore exporter lobby, Mr P Chidambaram finance minister last weekend hinted that he was open for reviewing the export duty of INR 300 per tonne on iron ore export.

Mr P Chidambaram said that While the steel industry has supported the export duty, the iron ore exporters have pleaded for a reconsideration of duty on iron ore fines. We shall consider all the facts and circumstances objectively and take suitable decisions.

He said the finance ministry has already gathered a lot of material but have asked the stake holders concerned to provide more materials if they wished to do so.

The steel industry had welcomed the proposed export duty saying it would go a long way to conserve much needed iron ore required for the steel industry but the miners have described this proposal as a draconian one saying that it would deplete the coffers of ore.

Foundation laid for JSPLs steel plant in Jharkhand

Jindal Steel and Power Limited have laid the foundation for its 6 million tonne steel plant. Mr Madhu Koda chief minister of Jharkhand laid the foundation at Balkudra where the JSPL had acquired the defunct Bihar Alloys Steel Limited for INR 108 crore at an auction and got 600 acres of land.

Mr Navin Jindal vice CMD of JSPL said that the industrialization brings with it things like training institutes and hospitals and that he would work with a feeling of being a local. He assured the locals "I will be with you in your pleasures and pains.

Mr Koda said that the project would create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. He added that "A decade ago it was a sad day for several people when Bihar Alloy Steel was closed down, leaving many families starving. But with today's foundation laying, I am sure the future looks bright once again.

JSPL signed a MoU with Jharkhand government on July 5th 2005 for setting up a 6 million tonne steel plant at an investment of INR 15,000 in two phases.

Group of ministers formed for mineral policy

Due to difference in opinion between ministries, Indian government has constituted a group of ministers headed by home minister Mr Shivraj Patil to study the National Mineral Policy 2007 and the proposal to coal mining block auction for captive purposes by amending the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act of 1957.

Other members of the GoM are Mr Sushi Kumar Shinde, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Mr Sis Ram Ola, Mr P Chidambaram, Mr Kamal Nath, Mr Santosh Mohan Dev, Mr A Raja, Mr Kapil Sibal, Mr Premchand Gupta, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Dr Dasari Narayan Rao.

However, no time frame has been set for the GoM to submit its recommendations.

The draft of the National Mineral Policy 2007 is based on the recommendations of the Hoda committee and is being opposed by the ministry of steel as the Hoda committee had recommended that iron ore blocks should be allocated only to those companies that make value addition in the state having iron ore.

India to boost global iron ore demand CVRD

Brazilian miner CVRD said that economic growth in India could spark additional global iron ore demand similar to way rapid urbanization in China in 2002 sent iron ore prices soaring.

Mr Fabio Barbosa CFO of XVRD told the Agencia Estado news agency that current iron ore prices didn't reflect the potential surge in demand for iron ore from India's expanding economy. Mr Barbosa said "In the long term, India could represent an effect similar to China since 2002. We are watching carefully economic growth in India and think that there could still be upside that is not yet reflected in prices."

Earlier this month, the Indian government imposed stiff taxes on iron ore exports in an effort to meet rising domestic demand. According to CVRD, that could lead to additional tightness in the global iron ore supply.

POSCOs plant faces renewed protests

KalingaTimes reported that around 500 villagers form Nuagaon, Dhinkia and Gadakujang panchayats in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa on Saturday organized a rally to renew their resistance to the steel project of POSCO.

The rally was organized by the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, an organization that has been vehemently opposing displacement of the people to make space for POSCOs proposed steel plant.

More than 20,000 people of about 15 nearby villages including Dhinkia, Gada Kujanga and Nuagaon have been opposing the project, fearing displacement. The villagers say project will displace them and ruin their betel leaf farming. The protestors have set up barricades on roads leading into the village to stop government or company officials to enter into the villages.

Though the deal between POSCO and the Orissa government was signed in June 2005, there has not been any significant progress on the project due to local opposition. Strong opposition by a section of the locals has delayed the acquisition of land for the steel project. Despite the company making payments to the authorities for 1135 acres of government land, it has failed to take possession of the site due to people's opposition. No private land for the project has been acquired by the government so far. POSCO needs a total of 4004 acres for the project.

The movement against displacement has been gaining strength in the Orissa since January 2nd 2006 when 13 tribal were killed by police when they were opposing construction of boundary wall for another steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district.

DP Jindal & Chokhani groups to set up spiral pipe plant in MP

Business Standard reported that DP Jindal Groups JCO Gas Pipes Ltd and Chokhani group have planned to set up a 5000 tonnes per month spiral submerged arc welded pipe plant at Borgaon industrial area in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh at an investment of INR 53.18 crore. The project will be commissioned in one year.

As per reports, the company has demanded a concession of 50% on power tariff, purchase preference for at least 50% of quantities in all state government purchases, an iron ore mine near the site and waiver from all stamp duty and land registration fee for this project. The report cites an official as saying that The state project implementation and clearance board will consider the sops and concessions in accordance with Industrial Promotion Policy 2004.

Indian government studying plan for a coal regulator

Indian government is planning to appoint a coal regulator to ensure efficiency in the sector. Dr Dasari Narayana Rao minister of state for coal informed the parliament that the ministry is currently in the process of commissioning a study for introduction of a coal regulator. He said that the details would be worked out once the study was complete.

Dr Rao also told that coal based power utilities are not facing any problems due to insufficient supply of coal. Dr Rao said that The supply is maintained according to annual action plan target. However, sometimes supplies get affected due to factors like unloading constraints at power house ends, regulation of coal supply and mining problems. Coal based plants have registered a growth of 7% in the current fiscal.

He informed that 251 million tonnes of coal was supplied to power utilities till January this year as against demand of 322 million tonnes for the fiscal. He added that the coal supply during previous two fiscals stood at 584.94 million tonnes as against a demand of 583.08 million tonnes.

JSW Steel ready to shift its steel plant in WB

JSW Steel Limited, amidst widespread resistance against land acquisition for industrial purposes in West Bengal said that it was ready to relocate its proposed INR 35,000 crore steel plant to a convenient site within the state if required.

Mr Sajjan Jindal vice CMD of JSW Steel, after a meeting with Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee chief minister of West Bengal last week, told reporters that till date there had been no major resistance from the local people at Salboni where the plant has been planned over an area of 5000 acres. Mr Jindal added that "If the resistance is insurmountable, then we are prepared to shift the location."

Nr Sajjan Jindal said that the project was on schedule and at the moment there was no question of shifting it. He also said that the company would take the local people into confidence.

Indian Railways appoints a team for dedicated freight corridor

Times news Network reported that the Indian Railway has appointed a 3 member team from IIM Calcutta to study transportation requirements of key industries, analyze the freight market and prepare a business plan for INR 25,000 crore dedicated freight corridor project.

The 3 member team includes Mr Ramanuj Majumdar an expert on marketing, Mr Bodhibhrata Nag a former director of the Railway Design Services Organization & an expert on logistics and Mr Sushil Khanna an independent director on the boards of several companies.

Mr Majumdar said "Our job is to suggest a marketing plan to regain traffic lost to roadways and other modes, provide traffic projects for next 25 years and suggest innovations in the system with customer as the focus.

Mr Nag added that the dedicated freight corridor would surely change the way goods are moved from one place to another. He said "Due to high speed of 100 kilometers per hour, it will be possible to run 100 trains per day on the corridor. It means a collective carriage capacity of 300,000 tonnes a day, trucks just cannot beat that scale."

The dedicated freight corridor would have two freight corridors, one running from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai to Dadri near Delhi and another from Ludhiana in Punjab to Kolkata. Both corridors would also have several small feeder routes to bring in goods traffic from ports and plants in nearby towns.

Indias coking coal consumption scenario

Dr Dasari Narayana Rao minister of state for coal informed the upper house of parliament that the quantum of off take of coking coal by steel sector, both imported and indigenous during the last 3 years is as under.

In million tonnes

Dr Rao informed that the Indian government is allocating coal blocks to specified end users to increase coal production from sources other than Coal India Limited although the production from these mines will increase in due course of time as there is a long gestation period in coal production. He added that CIL has taken following steps to increase coal production

1. 97 mining projects have been undertaken for implementation by CIL during X Plan
2. Improvement in equipment utilization
3. Timely implementation of projects
4. All new mines are being planned with mechanization
5. Increasing productivity in both underground and open case mines
6. Emergency coal production has been planned for increasing production in existing mines & projects.

India to become power surplus country in 5 years

Mr Sushi Kumar Shinde power minister informed the upper house of parliament that India, which currently faces huge power deficit, will become an electricity surplus country in next 4 years to 5 years as massive capacity addition programme including introduction of ultra mega power projects have been launched.

Mr Shinde said ""Currently, we have a 70,000 MW deficit. I am confident that in next 4 years to 5 years, the country will be surplus in power."

He added that the power ministry will move soon for changing the hydro electric policy to tap 150,000 MW of potential in the North East India.

Mr Shinde said that the private sector is being encouraged to set up captive generating capacities. He however added that in view of the past experience of Enron Corporation, the government was taking all precautions while welcoming the private sector into power generation.

Gujarat NREs Australian subsidiary recommences trading on ASX

Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd announced that its Australian subsidiary Gujarat NRE Resources NL recommenced trading on the Australian Stock Exchange last week.

Gujarat NRE Resources NL was formerly known as Zelos Resources NL owns the Avondale Colliery which has hard coking coal deposits and the other major area of operation of the company continues to be Tasmania where the Company has a number of licenses to drill for minerals and metals including iron ore and gold.

China's crude steel output continues to rise

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's crude steel output rose by 23.1% from 2006 to reach 74.25 million tons in the first two months of 2007. NBS said that despite factories suspending production for the Spring Festival, China produced 36.13 million tons of crude steel in February up by 20.1% YoY.

The China Iron and Steel Association previously forecast that the country's crude steel output would grow by 10%in 2007 reaching 462 million tons to 475 million tons, up by 13% but based on the output during January and February the figure could rise further.

Mr Xu Xiangchun information executive of Langesteel.com was quoted as saying by China Business News that this year's crude steel output will be about 60 million tons more than last year and that might increase the pressure on the domestic market.

Analysts fear the huge output will result in a large surplus and put the domestic market under great pressure.

Votorantim outbids steel majors for control of Colombian APR

It is reported that Brazilian industrial conglomerate Votorantim Participacoes SA will pay USD 485 million for a controlling 52% stake in Colombia's 2nd largest steel maker Acerias Paz del Rio surpassing offers from Arcelor Mittal, Gerdau SA and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional.

The COP 131.42 (USD 0.05) per share offer by Votorantim, after a marathon bidding session, is more than double the minimum COP 52 pesos per share price set by the company's 6,700 former and current employees.

Acerias Paz del Rio is currently the second largest steel maker in Colombia behind Gerdau and besides its steel mill, Paz del Rio also owns iron ore and coking coal mines.

Mittal Steel Zenica to increase output to 2 million tonnes

AFP reported that Arcelor Mittal intends to quadruple production at a Mittal Steel Zenica plant in central Bosnia with a USD 130 million cash injection in a project to reconstruct an integrated production route. The project is expected to take 16 months for completion.

Upon its completion, output at the plant would be boosted to 2 million tons annually from 490,000 tons in 2006.

Mittal Steel in a statement said "This will strengthen Mittal Steel Zenica's leadership in the steel industry in the Balkans and also add considerably to the economic development of Bosnia.

Mittal Steel bought a majority stake in the Zenica steelworks in 2004.

Alfa Bank predicts steady pricing in CIS steel market

Platts citing Russia's Alfa Bank reported that steel prices in the CIS are likely to remain flat for the remainder of 2007 and 2008 owing to global consolidation despite the threat of a Chinese oversupply.

The report added that continued consolidation in the sector would enable steelmakers to drive harder bargains with iron ore and coking coals producer, as well as with end users, and with a higher concentration of steel production, the industry would be able to control prices by reducing production capacity.

Alfa indicated the Chinese threat is somewhat mitigated by growing demand on the back of robust global demand and Chinese GDP rates as well as other factors. It cited a possible strengthening of the Chinese currency, tight supply of scrap and iron ore and negotiated price increases for 2007 iron ore supply of 9.5% affecting Chinese steel manufacturer margins.

Overall, the CIS steel market in 2006 was characterized by rising prices. Hot rolled coil prices increased by 10% YoY to USD 497 per tonnes and cold rolled coil saw a 3% increase YoY to USD 567 per metric tonnes. These figures were achieved despite relatively low price levels of USD 380 per tonnes and USD 480 per metric tonnes respectively at the beginning of the year. The report concluded that in 2006, CISs domestic market had been significantly stronger than in previous years.

Review of China's steel export rebate change history

China's rebate policy on steel exports has gone through 3 major changes since 2004. The first cut can be dates back to January 1st 2004 when the rate was reduced from 15% to 13%. Secondly, the rebate on plate wire rod and bar products have been further slashed to 11% on May 1st 2005 and thirdly on September 15th of last year the rebate on above products have again been cut to 8%.

However, the September cut is only applicable to steel exports with 142 tax codes. For example, HRC with a width range of 3mm to 4.75mm and those under 1.5mm has taken a lion share of exports since this year beginning are thereby exempted from the 3% rebate cut.

Therefore, China's last announcement of a cut in its tax rebate for steel exports appears to be more a symbolic gesture than a real effort to rein back the tonnages being sold abroad. It will do little to threaten China's position as a substantial net exporter of steel, cited by foreign media.

China also removed the export rebate enjoyed by pig iron, slab/billet and other semis on April 1st 2005 and then started to impose 10% export duty on ferroalloy, pig iron and semis from November 1st 2006.

Further rebate cut is to be announced quite soon. The rumor has long been in the air. It is circulating since December last year that 8% rebate on finished steel products would be reduced to zero from new calendar year. And in early Feb, foreign media disclosed that Beijing is to further cut the export rebate before Lunar New Year. It is said that the rebate on some steel exports is to be reduced from 13% to 5%while that on wire rod and other low end products to be removed altogether from current 8%.

Market analysts believe the reabte regime has been delayed as leading steelmakers are bargaining with the policymaker over the margin. The previous rebate changes reflect that the authority is strived to stabilize domestic steel market, preventing any shock from the rebate cut. In this case, new rebate policy would target at those heavily exported products.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

Wheeling-Pittsburg turns around in 2006

Wheeling Pittsburgh Corp has posted loss of USD 18.1 million for October to December 2006 quarter as compared with a net loss of USD 23.4 million in October to December 2005. However, Wheeling Pitt has reported a profit of USD 6.5 million for 2006 as compared with loss of USD 33.8 million in 2005.

Its net sales in the quarter totaled USD 332.3 million on 431,325 tonnes of steel products shipped as compared with USD 356 million on 527,336 tonnes of steel shipped in the same period the previous year. The average selling price per tonne was USD 770 as compared with USD 675 per ton the year before.

Mr James Bouchard chairman of Wheeling Pitt's board and CEO of Esmark said that "We are in the infancy stage of the first chapter of our turnaround."

South African environmental ministry clears Sishen Saldanha iron ore rail line

South Africa government has approved an expansion of a key iron ore export corridor to its western coast despite opposition by environment groups. The expansion by state owned logistics group Transnet Ltd will entail increasing the handling capacity of the bulk terminal at Saldanha Bay from the current 38 million tonnes a year to 45 million tonnes.

Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk environment and tourism minister said in a statement that he was satisfied environmental risks raised in an objection could be successfully mitigated.

Ms Maria Ramos of Transnet group said in a statement that "This decision will allow us to go ahead with increasing our handling capacity at the Saldanha bulk terminal from the current 38 million tons per year to 45 million tons as requested by our major clients who wish to boost their exports."

The 861 kilometer long railway line between Sishen and the port of Saldanha is one of South Africa's premier routes for iron ore exports. The bulk is exported by Africa's biggest iron ore producer Kumba Iron Ore mostly to China.

Louisiana to increase incentive package for ThyssenKrupp

It is reported that the state of Louisiana will announce additional incentive of USD 100 million to take it to USD 400 million, at par with what Alabama is offering, to lure ThyssenKrupp for setting up their USD 2.9 billion steel plant at Louisiana.

Ms Kathleen Blanco governor of Louisiana is proposing to up Louisiana's offer by adding another USD 100 million to match Alabama's package.

The Louisiana Legislature approved a USD 300 million fund late last year to lure the plant to a site in St. James Parish along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. But Alabama has approved a USD 400 million incentives package for the plant.

Louisiana and Alabama are competing for a new USD 2.9 billion steel plant to be built by Duesseldorf based steel maker ThyssenKrupp AG and the 2,700 jobs that come with it.

Qatar Strands to build steel wire facility at Jebel Ali in UAE

Gulf News reported that Qatar Strands, a company formed by a group of Gulf investors, is setting up a AED 250 million (USD 68.1 million) steel plant at Jebel Ali in UAE and has signed a USD 27.2 million contract with Italian GCR Eurodraw to supply the machinery. The project is expected to be operational by the beginning of 2008.

The plant, which will occupy 13,000 square meters of land, will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons of steel, biggest of its kind in the Gulf.

UAE based private equity firm Evolvence Capital facilitated the project transaction. Mr Ezzaldeen Al Araj director of Evolvence told Gulf News that "The idea was in development for two years. We were finally able to get a group of Gulf investors together for this venture."

Qatar Strands will target the domestic market for steel wires, which are used with concrete in infrastructure projects. Most steel cables being used in the Gulf are imported from China, Malaysia and countries in Europe and demand for steel wires in Arab countries is estimated to be 750,000 tonnes annually with the UAE accounting for about one third of the market.

Condesa commission SS tube mill in Legutiano

YIEH reported that Spanish tube mill Condesa has already started to run its stainless steel tube mill in Legutiano which located in North Spain.

Condesas major business is carbon steel tube production and it is the first time that the company start to dabble in stainless steel tube business. Their tube products are supplying in automobile industries, furnishing industries and some decor business.

Chinas futures exchange to start test run on zinc trading

Xinhua reported that China is poised to begin trading zinc at Shanghai Futures Exchange in the near future and that the test runs for the new futures product will be held in this week. The move will provide Chinese zinc enterprises with a hedging instrument and mitigate their heavy reliance on international markets. Now, only London Metal Exchange has a zinc futures market in the world.

Earlier report said zinc futures market has been given green light by related authorities under the State Council.

According to Shanghai Futures Exchange, the minimum delivery unit is set at 25 tons for the coming zinc futures whose price will be allowed to rise or fall within a daily limit of 4% of the closing price for the previous trading day and has required its members and software developers for remote trading systems to complete preparations for official start of zinc trading.

China accounts for one fifth of world's total zinc ore production. Statistics from the China Association of Nonferrous Metal Industry showed that in the first three quarters of 2006 consumed 2.48 million tons of zinc a growth of 10.97% YoY over the year earlier level.

Timken places order for bar mill expansion to SMS Meer

Timken announced that it has finalized sourcing of major equipment purchases for its USD 60 million expansion of its small bar rolling mill at the Harrison steel plant from SMS Meer GmbH. The expansion is expected to be complete in mid 2008.

SMS Meer GmbH will provide Timken will design and install a sizing mill, a 3 roll hydraulic roll gap adjustment system and a range of inspection and finishing equipment. The hydraulic roll gap adjustment system will automatically adjust the roll gap to maintain bar tolerance and precision sizing mill would facilitate the use of a one pass family in the existing mill and provides free sizing capability down to 1 inch. In addition the expansion also will incorporate sophisticated inspection and finishing equipment.

Mr Tom Moline VP of Timken stated that "Our targeted customers have expressed strong interest in the increased capability this expansion project represents as we continue to differentiate our steel production. Some of these special bar quality steels are not readily available in the United States, and this expansion will enable us to supply our customers with this crucial product."

Arcelor Mittal Luxembourg unions complaining Report

Reuters has reported that Luxembourg unions of Arcelor Mittal will meet in protest against what they say is a deterioration of dialogue with management following the Mittal Steel takeover.

The report cites Mr Alain Kinn president of the OGB-L union as saying that his members were increasingly concerned that Luxembourg's tradition of dialogue between union, management and the government was under threat. He said "This is an alarm bell. We notice that practices are changing."

Mr Kinn added that calls for talks between the three parties had been left unanswered and his union was not satisfied with its contacts with the new management and that an industrial action could be considered if the situation did not change.

On the other hand, the report cites Mr Dominique Plumion a representative of France's CFDT union as saying that "We have not felt any deterioration and have been pleasantly surprised by the decision of the new Chief Executive and main owner Mr LM Mittal to visit plants and meet union representatives.

Coal laden train plunges into river in Xinjiang

Xinhua reported that a train laden with coal derailed and plunged into a river when passing a bridge in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region. Officials from Urumqi railway authorities and Fukang city government have arrived at the scene to deal with the accident and no casualties were reported.

As per report the accident happened at 3:40 PM in Fukang City 70 kilometers north of Urumqi capital of Xinjiang when the train dragging more than 30 carriages was passing a bridge. The 10 meter long bridge collapsed and the first nine carriages were derailed with three of which falling into the river and have been blocked by coal.

According to a railway maintenance official the line resumed operation in February after it had been disused for many years as coal transport had been relying on highway between the two cities. Increasing costs of highway transport let to resumption of the line.

SMC inaugurates steel factory in southern Vietnam

It is reported that SMC Trade Investment Joint Stock Company staretd a VND 44 billion steel factory in Phu My 1 Industrial Park in Tan Thanh district of the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in Vietnam on March 16th 2007.

The SMC Phu My Steel Factory would have an annual output of 30,000 tonnes of products, which are used in construction shipbuilding bridge engineering and electrical industries, to meet growing demands for mechanical steel products both at home and abroad.

SMC is also carrying out a project worth VND 200 billion (USD 12.5 million) to build a mechanical manufacturing factory in the Phu My 1 IP. The project is expected to become operational in late 2008 to meet growing demands for mechanical-steel products both at home and abroad.

The company sold 250,000 tonnes of steel last year and has targeted to hold 4.5% to 5% of the domestic market share by 2010 of around 450,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes.

Sandvik re brands its Austrian subsidiary VAMH

It is reported that Sandvik has officially changed the name of its Austrian subsidiary Voest Alpine Materials Handling GmbH and Co KG as Sandvik Mining and Construction Materials Handling.

Sandvik said that the move was in accordance with its new business strategy and the associated course of re branding within Sandvik Mining and Construction with the ultimate aim of all employees and companies uniting under the single Sandvik brand with a higher recognition in the market.

The former VAMH, headquarter in Leoben, produces open cast continuous mining equipment and mine and stockyard bulk handling systems. Tamrock acquired VAMH in 1996 with Sandvik acquiring full control of Tamrock in 1998. The other part of the former V VAMH is Bergtechnik based at Zeltweg in Austria, which changed its name officially in January 2007 and is focused on underground equipment for coal and soft rock mining such as miner bolters and coal haulers.

Cleveland Cliffs appoints Mr Raguz as VP corporate planning

Americas largest iron ore pellets producer Cleveland Cliffs Inc has recently announced the appointment of Mr Steven M Raguz as vice president corporate planning and strategic analysis effective March 5th 2007.

Mr Raguz has extensive experience in various aspects of financial and strategic planning and analysis. In his current capacity, he will lead the Corporate Planning function, which will design processes to ensure consistency and appropriate information to implement the Company's strategy. In addition, he will oversee analysis and forecasting functions as well as long term planning.

OMK's Chusovoi increases auto spring output by 46% YoY

Russias United Metallurgical Company announced that its Chusovoi Metals Plant has increased automobile spring production during January to February to 10.800 tonnes up by 46% YoY. The plant produced 6,600 tonnes of springs in February up by 29% YoY.

It also produced 76,000 tonnes of crude steel and 60,300 tonnes of finished roll in the two months.

OMK is one of Russia's largest producers of pipes, rail wheels, and other metal products for power, transportation and industrial companies. OMK includes the Vyksa, Chusovoi and Schyolkovo steel plants,Almetyevsk Tube Works, Trubodetal and coke producer Gubakhinsky Koks.

Kobe Steel to hike wire rod and bar prices

Kobe Steel announced that it will increase the base selling price of wire rod and bar by 10% to 15% for all applications for April shipment. It represents around JPY 10,000 per tonne of hike which is the first attempt after JPY 15,000 to JPY 20,000 per tonne of hike for April 2005.

Kobe Steel introduced surcharge price mechanism for items with nickel content in April, while it kept seeking revised extra charge introduced before.