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Tata Steel
A 28-30 per cent surge in global freight costs amid geopolitical tensions, including the escalating West Asia situation, is emerging as the biggest challenge for India's steel industry, even as domestic operations and raw material supplies remain largely stable, a senior Tata Steel official said. The sharp rise in shipping rates, triggered by instability in West Asia and the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict, is significantly increasing logistics costs for steelmakers dependent on imported coking coal, he said. "For steel, the biggest impact is freight. Freight rates have gone up by almost 28-30 per cent... This is the direct impact. First, the Russia-Ukraine war, and now the West Asia situation... This is definitely having a cascading effect on almost all countries," Tata Steel Vice-President (Corporate Services) D B Sundara Ramam told PTI. Despite global disruptions, the steel industry has so far managed to maintain production levels, though rising freight and logistics costs are
India's diversification of energy sources and enhancing access to critical minerals are crucial for the country's economy, but this shift has introduced new challenges, Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director T V Narendran said on Thursday. Addressing the AIMA Leadership Conclave, Narendran termed India's energy and critical minerals diversification move as a "layered vulnerability". "The challenge is obvious while we are diversifying our sources of energy and critical minerals, and we must; this diversification is also a layered vulnerability, not just dependence on imports but also dependence on political goodwill that allows these imports to flow," he said. He further noted that this decade began with the pandemic, an enormous disruption that forced governments to act swiftly, spurred rapid advances in science and pushed businesses and societies to adapt and find ways to cope. Referring to the Covid-19 crisis, he said the pandemic was followed by a succession of shocks -- fractured