Steel Industry

Following the post-Covid metals rally, the domestic steel industry was able to achieve the "impossible trinity" of maintaining above 80 per cent capacity utilisation rates

The trade ministry's Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) said in April the curbs were meant to protect domestic met coke producers from rising imports, which have increased by more than 61%

It remains to be seen how the government charts out a path to address the competing concerns and resolve the matter

Steel flat product plants are undergoing a massive margin squeeze; the results speak for themselves

Raw material securitisation would be one of the major components of the policy. The scope of the policy would also include aspects such as increasing demand and building capacities

At small and medium-sized mills, which account for 41 per cent of India's total steel output and employ more than 1.5 million people, capacity utilisation has dropped by nearly a third over the past

The steel industry is clearly in a down-cycle

Steel is responsible for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions, around the same as India, with coal-fired blast furnaces producing 2 metric tons of CO2 for each ton of output

The drop in the prices of steel will impact the operating profitability of primary steel producers in the domestic market, Crisil Ratings said on Thursday. Early-stage steel produced from iron ore is referred as primary steel. Despite an increase in sales volume and lower cost pressures, mainly due to reduced coking coal prices, the operating profit margin will remain at 15-16 per cent in the current financial year, it said. "Lower realisations and flat operating margin will likely drag absolute Ebitda for primary steelmakers 5-7 per cent lower this fiscal, at a time of substantial growth capex," Crisil Ratings Director Ankit Hakhu said. Domestic steel prices are likely to drop 10 per cent on average this fiscal from Rs 57,500 per tonne last fiscal. The first half of this fiscal has already seen average domestic steel prices fall eight per cent from last fiscal's average. While domestic demand is healthy, global steel demand is likely to contract for the third consecutive fiscal.

Union Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that steelmakers need to collaborate with leading institutions like Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IITs for research to create a globally-competitive and technologically-advanced steel industry. He said India's steel sector stands as the backbone of its industrial strength and a cornerstone of nation-building. "From skyscrapers to highways, railways to defence, steel powers our progress and fuels our ambitions." Speaking on the occasion of the National Metallurgists Awards ceremony here on Wednesday, he said: "To create a globally-competitive and technologically-advanced steel industry, our steelmakers need to collaborate with leading institutions like IISc and IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) for research." Specialty steel, Kumaraswamy said, is also a crucial sector where research and innovation is the need of the hour. The Minister said that under the leadership Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is on a path t

Indian steel mills have been grappling with a higher influx of Chinese steel imports, hitting domestic prices and denting companies' earnings

The location of the new plant is not yet final, but Odisha is an option. If that happens, Posco's two-decade-long journey in India will have come full circle

JSW Steel on Tuesday said it has been declared as the preferred bidder for Codli Mineral Block XII at Dharbandora in Goa. The company has received a communication from the Office of the Director, Directorate of Mines & Geology, Government of Goa, JSW Steel said in an exchange filing. "The company is declared as 'Preferred Bidder' with highest final offer price at 92.60 per cent of the value of mineral dispatched, it said. The projected iron ore resources are 48.5 million tonnes in addition to 2.7 million tonnes of ore in dumps, JSW Steel said. The company will take all requisite steps to obtain Letter of Intent and statutory clearances to execute the lease deed with Mine Development and Production Agreement (MDPA) and start the mining operations. In a separate filing, JSW Steel said its Italian arm JSW Steel Italy SrL has signed a commercial agreement with Metinvest Adria S.p.A "As per the agreement, Metinvest is obliged to pay a release fee of Euro 30 million to JSW Steel Italy

China exported 1.4 million metric tons of steel to India during the period, up 36.7% from a year ago

Last week, JSW Steel and Posco signed an agreement to set up an integrated steel plant with an initial capacity of 5 million metric tons a year

The government has infused around Rs 1,650 crore in state-owned RINL, gripped with operational and financial issues, according to an official document. The government is also taking various measures to keep RINL as a going concern, the Ministry of Steel said in a note. "In this regard, the Government of India has infused Rs 500 crore towards equity on September 19, 2024, and a working capital loan of Rs 1,140 crore on September 27, 2024," according to the document. It also said that SBICAPS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Bank of India (SBI), is preparing a report on the sustainability of RINL. "RINL is in serious financial trouble, and the (Steel) Ministry is taking several steps to keep RINL as a going concern in consultation with the Ministry of Finance," it added. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), under the Ministry of Steel, is a steel manufacturing company. It owns a 7.5 million tonne plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The company has been facing severe financ

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday said that India's fastest growing conglomerate JSW Group and South Korean steel major POSCO will jointly set up a greenfield steel facility in his home district of Keonjhar. Majhi revealed this amid nationwide speculation over the exact location of the JSW-POSCO joint venture. "During our roadshows for the ensuing Make-in Odisha conclave in Delhi and Mumbai, I had discussed with both JSW and POSCO regarding the establishment of a steel plant in Odisha's mineral-rich Keonjhar district," Majhi, who is on a two-day visit to Keonjhar for celebrating Diwali, told reporters. "Meanwhile, they have signed an MoU. They will do it jointly. They have also mentioned doing it in Keonjhar district. It is under process and Odisha will get another steel plant," the chief minister said. The two steel makers on October 29 signed an MoU at JSW Group's corporate headquarters in Mumbai, in the presence of JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal and POSCO ...

He tells that short-term challenges will not be a direction for its overall expansion in the medium to long term

The analysis shared by CRISIL is based on 435 companies that account for almost half of the listed market capitalisation, which reported an 8.3 per cent growth in the April-June quarter

Reports indicate China is on track to export more than 100 mt in 2024 - the most since 2016