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Steel cos to roll back prices (The Hindu Business Line 15th Feb 2008)After raising prices in the first week of February, major domestic steel producers have agreed to a partial roll-back in the prices of thermo mechanically treated (TMT) bars and rounds by Rs 1,000 per tonne and hot-rolled (HR) coils by Rs 500 per tonne with immediate effect. The roll-back decision came after a meeting between the major producers and the Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, on Thursday. Steel producers had a meeting with Ministry officials on Tuesday, but that meeting remained inconclusive. Earlier this month, the manufacturers had raised steel prices by Rs 1,500-2,500 per tonne, citing rising input costs, which had attracted a lot of attention from consumers. According to Mr Paswan, the industry had voluntarily agreed to decrease prices of these varieties for the benefit of the common man. More

Rollback of steel prices difficult, say producers (The Hindu Business Line 14th Feb 2008)The major domestic steel producers feel that the possibility of a roll back of the prices looks difficult in the current scenario of spiralling input costs. “Looking at the prevailing scenario where the input costs are increasing every month, the call by the Government to roll-back prices seems unlikely. However, we feel that in the coming months there might not be such a drastic increase in the prices,” a company official told Business Line. It is also learnt that the Steel Ministry has called for another meeting with the major producers on the issue on Thursday. The first meeting between Ministry officials and the major producers was held on Tuesday when the industry representatives presented their reasons on the recent increase in prices. “On one hand, the Government is calling for a roll back in the prices, while their own PSUs, which supply the raw materials, are indicating a price hike in the...

China hikes steel export tax by 5-15% (The Hindu Business Line 3rd Jan 2008)China’s new trade policy, effective from January 1, hiking export taxes between five and 15 per cent, including steel, is likely to push prices up in developed countries. The policy guidelines have also banned 589 tolling business (importing raw materials and exporting finished products duty-free) in commodities. Mr Vishal Chandak, senior analyst, Emkay Share and Stock Brokers Ltd, said it would make Chinese products less competitive in the global market and increase steel prices in the developed economies. The increase in the export tax is likely to benefit domestic players as pricing for steel and other raw materials is done on the landed import price parity basis, he said, adding that in case the exports did not decline, China was likely to increase the tariffs further. More Corollary - Move likely to boost prices in developed countries

Orissa govt initiates talks with Posco affected (Business Standard 7th Dec 2007) The Jagatsinghpur district administration today held the first round of discussions with the affected villagers of the Posco project and the officials of the South Korean steel major on land acquisition and socio economic survey in the project site. Although the villagers of Dhinkia, the epicenter of the anti-Posco movement, were absent from the meeting, more than 80 representatives of Nuagaon, Gobindpur, Gadakujang, Nilia Sahi participated in the discussions.

Rlys hikes freight charges for iron ore exports yet again (The Hindu Business Line 6th Dec 2007) Within two months of increasing the congestion surcharge on iron ore traffic, Indian Railways has hiked the surcharge yet again to a whopping 60 per cent per tonne with effect from December 1. Earlier, the congestion surcharge was at 35 per cent per tonne, which was effected from October 1 — an increase of 14 percentage points over the 21 per cent surcharge level prevailing till September-end. The 21-per-cent congestion surcharge was imposed on iron ore exporters from April 1, through a notification after the Railway Budget. SAT keeps Essar Steel delisting in abeyance (Busienss Standard 6th Dec 2007) The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Wednesday kept the delisting of Essar Steel from the stock exchanges in abeyance. This means the suspension of trading in the shares of Essar Steel, which was due from tomorrow, is delayed till further order. SAT came out with an interim order on Wed...