Page 2 - Analyst's View

Zinc is a bullish exception among bearish metals

The current three-month LME price of zinc is up around 50% on the January level. But, it is still miles away from the lofty high of $4,580 a tonne in November 2006

China's problem with India's rise as a steel major

What is galling about the vitriol against India is that the US and the European Union have been a lot more proactive in building tariff barriers against China's steel exports

Time to buy mineral resources in Africa

India has deep historic relationship with many mineral resource rich African countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania

Downstream value addition gives Hindalco edge over competition

Hindalco is the one which continues to make significant strides in converting the metal it smelts at its three smelters into value-added products

Making aluminium semis straight from hot metal saves big energy

India's aluminium demand registered a growth of 10% in 2015 and this may further gain in momentum because of the push given to the Make in India campaign

Odisha's kalinganagar plant enriches Tata Steel's flat products profile

Rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of the affected families at Kalinganagar continues to test the group's patience

Iron ore to fall on weak fundamentals

The average ore price for 2015 was around $50 a tonne, a major climb down from $192 a tonne on February 16, 2011

Drip irrigation for sugar cane farming

Govt and Jain Irrigation are on the same page that large-scale application of drip and sprinkler irrigation systems will lead to conservation of water, energy and fertilisers

Revenue-sharing formula can redeem sugar sector

No wonder, industry cane dues at one point in the current season rose to Rs 22,000 crore, compelling the government to give an interest-free loan of Rs 6,000 crore to factories in June 2015

Pulses, not sugar, are hurting the common man

Ask any common man and he'll say he is angry about pulses prices showing no signs of remission but not about sugar prices touching Rs 40 a kg. Some varieties of pulses now cost close to Rs 200 a kg, leaving a big hole in the common man's household budget. One wonders if New Delhi's showing concern about sugar becoming expensive is an attempt to deflect attention from the runaway rises in prices of pulses, which families must have with two principal meals. Both sugar and pulses are highly globally-traded commodities and their world prices will at all times have a bearing on local markets. At the same time, India being the world's largest user of both, the size of domestic production will impact prices in a major way.Let's consider pulses first. According to the second official advance estimate of production of major crops during 2015-16 released in mid-February, pulses output is put at 17 million tonnes (mt). For the second year in a row, pulses production, a victim of extreme dry weath

Commodities react like a canary in a coal mine

No doubt commodities will be the first in the line of price collapse if recession hits the world

Is ethanol making environment-friendly?

Chemicals offer the highest value addition to molasses and states earn substantial revenue when liquor is made from the cane by-product

Steel woes not to go away too soon

The toxic cocktail of sluggish demand and chronic overcapacity is taking a toll on steelmakers across the globe

Sugar prices get boost from rising global deficit

Sugar futures hit a seven-year low at 11.2 cents a pound in August, plunging the sector worldwide into a crisis