Page 11 - Steel Producers

Amarendu Prakash takes over as SAIL chairman, succeeds Soma Mondal

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Wednesday said Amarendu Prakash on Wednesday assumed the charge as the company's Chairman. He succeeds Soma Mondal, who retired from the post on April 30, 2023. In a regulatory statement, SAIL said, "Amarendu Prakash, Director (in-charge at SAIL's Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), SAIL) has joined as Chairman SAIL w.e.f. May 31, 2023". A B.Tech in Metallurgy from BIT Sindri, Prakash is an accomplished technocrat and possesses over 30 years of experience, comprising 24 years in plant operations at BSL, 4 years at the Chairman's office in SAIL, and 2 years as a Director on SAIL Board as an In-charge of BSL. He began his career at SAIL in 1991, with a posting in rolling mills. SAIL, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country's largest steel-making company, with an annual capacity of around 21 million tonnes.

Debt-to-earnings ratio of steel makers to remain below 2 times: Crisil

Research firm Crisil Ratings on Monday said it expects the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of domestic steel manufacturers to stay below the level of 2 times in the financial year 2023-24. The steel makers had reported the ratio of net debt to EBITDA in the range of 1.6-1.7 times in preceding financial year (FY) 2022-23, Crisil Ratings said in a report. "Domestic primary steel manufacturers are likely to see their leverage, in terms of net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) ratio, remain below 2.0 times this fiscal (compared to an estimated 1.6-1.7 times in fiscal 2023) despite undertaking capital expenditure to cater to growing demand," it said. With the leverage much lower than the average of 3.5 times, seen during past five fiscals, the median credit quality of the sector is unlikely to be affected as balance sheets of the players will remain healthy. Further, project risks are expected to be low due to the brownfield nature of bulk of the ...

Mills need technology breakthrough for Green Steel, face 30% cost increase

Steel makers in India and globally stare at a sharp 30 per cent increase in the production costs to manufacture 'green steel' for meeting their net-zero targets, experts said. Right now, there is no single definite technology for producing 'Green Steel' and whatever is available is based on different production process lines with different timeframes, said steel experts at the Singapore Green Steel Forum on Tuesday. India's steel mills along with their global peer groups and consultants are seeking a major technology breakthrough to produce green steel, according to experts. Present estimates put production of 'Green Steel' 30 per cent higher compared with conventional steel that is being produced currently, said a consultancy group official anonymously. The debate is using electric arc furnaces based on green energy, which would be costly, and Blast Furnace (BF), which uses comparatively cheaper coal, the official said. BF also offers large volume output compared to EAF, he ...

Indian steelmakers look for government support to go the green way

Transition calls for large investment but demand for and premium on eco-friendly steel remains dull

NMDC Steel Plant inches closer to go on stream in Chhattisgarh

The firm has commissioned its second coke oven battery. The Coke Oven Complex consists of two batteries, of which battery no. 2 has been commissioned

Centre to strengthen Vizag Steel Plant rather than privatising it: Kulaste

The Central government will focus on strengthening the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) for the moment rather than privatising it, Union Minister of State for Steel, Faggan Singh Kulaste said here on Thursday. He made this announcement on the sidelines of handing over appointment letters under Rozgar Mela. "As on date, we don't have any plan like that (sale) and in the coming days we will do better, including sorting out some problems with mining," Kulaste said while speaking to reporters in the port city. Meanwhile, some employee union leaders of the steel plant noted that they cannot believe Kulaste's statements unless an authoritative announcement is made by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to this effect. "We do not believe this announcement completely. It was CCEA which decided to sell VSP and it should announce that they are not selling it," said an union leader. "We have been protesting the privatisation plan for the past 800 days. This movement is being supported by

Met coal prices may fall; rate correction to help Indian steel makers: S&P

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said it is expecting a significant fall in rates of metallurgical coal and Indian steel makers are to benefit from the price correction. "We expect lower seaborne met coal prices will help Indian steel mills, as they import 70 per cent of their total requirement," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Anshuman Bharati said. The agency estimates that a sharp fall in seaborne metallurgical coal prices will improve cash flow and ease pressure on Indian steel producers, he said. "Our price assumptions are much lower than the average price of USD 370/tonne in 2022 and spot price of about USD 300/tonne. This is partly because we expect the supply constraints in Australia to ease over the next few months as adverse weather becomes less frequent," Bharati said. Indian steel producers are generally the most sensitive to seaborne met coal prices, as opposed to iron ore prices. This reflects India's status as the world's top importer of met coal and the fact .

AMNS Luxembourg signs $5 bn loan deal with Japanese banks for Indian ops

The loan proceeds would be used to finance the expansion of the plant at Hazira, Gujarat, from nine million tonnes (mt) to 15 mt

Jamshedpur Steel city is celebrating its 184th Founders Day today

The Tata Founders Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, who founded the Tata group

Steel industry asks govt to ensure availability of 161 MT coking coal

The domestic steel industry has sought a roadmap to ensure 161 million tonnes of coking coal is available for scaling up the country's annual steel making capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030. Coking coal and iron ore are the two key raw materials used for manufacturing steel through the blast furnace route. While iron ore is available domestically, the industry is dependent on imports for coking coal. At the sixth meeting of the Advisory Group for Integrated Steel Plants (ISP), a presentation on the roadmap to ensure availability of 161 MT of coking coal for future expansion of steel industry to 300 MT (Million Tonnes) capacity as per NSP 2017 was made by Indian Steel Association (ISA), sources said. The presentation was made to Union Minister for Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia and other senior officials of the ministry. It was agreed upon that future course of action may be charted for exploring the possibility of expanding the sources of coking coal especially from Russia, Mongoli

Steel production to be doubled to 300 MT per annum by 2030: Scindia

The government, he told the gathering, has awarded 54 applications submitted by 26 companies under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel

NMDC's Q3 consolidated net profit more than halves to Rs 904 crore

State-owned NMDC's consolidated net profit more than halved to Rs 903.89 crore for the December quarter, mainly on account of lower income. The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 2,046.88 crore in the October-December period of the preceding 2021-22 fiscal, the miner said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Its total income also tumbled to Rs 3,924.75 crore from Rs 6,026.68 crore in the year-ago quarter. Total expenses were at Rs 2,693.01 crore, as against Rs 3,332.44 crore a year ago. NMDC, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country's largest producer and supplier of iron ore.

Govt to push producers to use recycled steel as 50% input by 2047: Scindia

Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said his ministry will push primary steel producers to use 50 per cent of their input from scrapped/recycled steel by 2047 to help achieve the government target of moving into a circular economy. Currently, the level of recycled steel usage in primary steel production is only around 10 per cent even though recycled steel contributes to 22.5 per cent of the domestic total steel production of 140 million tonnes, the minister said while addressing the last day of the three-day international conference of material recycling here. The 10th conference is being organised by the Material Recycling Association of India and is attended by over 2,000 delegates from 38 countries. Noting that recycling is the key cog in the wheel of manufacturing as economies move into a circular model of development, he said, "Going forward the industry should focus on the 6Rs philosophy of reduce (exploitation of natural resources), recycle, reuse, recover,

Steel maker Kamdhenu's Q3 net profit grows 82% to over Rs 12 crore

Steel maker Kamdhenu Ltd has posted an 82 per cent growth in its net profit during the December quarter at Rs 12.02 crore, on the back of increased revenues. The company had recorded Rs 6.6 crore net profit during October-December period of 2021-22 fiscal, Kamdhenu Ltd said in a statement on Friday. Its revenue from operations also rose 23 per cent to Rs 182.7 crore from Rs 149 crore in the year-ago period. At Rs 17.1 crore, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 60 per cent higher from Rs 10.7 crore a year ago. "We have delivered strong performance in Q3 & 9M of FY23. For 9M FY23, our company reported revenue growth of 36 per cent y-o-y to Rs 565.2 crore, EBITDA growth of 26 per cent y-o-y to Rs 44.8 crore and PAT growth of 19 per cent y-o-y to Rs 30.3 crore," Kamdhenu CMD Satish Kumar Agarwal said. Kamdhenu Group recently listed its paints business Kamdhenu Ventures Ltd on the stock exchanges on January 24, post completion of the demerger

Jindal Steel and Power says enquiries from European buyers on rise

We did see some increase in the order book and a lot of enquiries (from Europe): Bimlendra Jha, managing director of Jindal Steel and Power

Odisha collects Rs 28,973 cr mining revenue in current financial year

The Odisha government has collected a total of Rs 28,973.43 crore revenue from mining up to January 17 of the current financial year, state Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallik here on Friday

2023 could be another strong yr for coal as demand may reach record levels

Coal India, companies with captive coal mines in steel, power and other sectors will be at an advantage

Domestic demand for finished steel to grow 8% this fiscal year: Icra

The demand for finished steel in India is expected to grow eight per cent this year compared to 2021, according to rating agency Icra. Supported by the government's infrastructure-led growth model, domestic finished steel demand has registered a double-digit growth of 11.9 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal, the ratings agency said in a report on Wednesday. The demand is "poised to close the year with a growth of 8 per cent...7-8 per cent growth for FY 2022-23," Icra said. However, domestic steel companies "face a bumpier road ahead" as the external environment becomes more challenging due to elevated inflation/ energy prices and rising interest rates. Given the expectation of a slowdown in the pace of economic activity over the next few quarters, domestic steel demand growth is likely to moderate to 6-7 per cent in FY24, Icra said. Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President & Group Head - Corporate Sector Ratings at ICRA, said dependence on external financing to ...

India becomes second-largest steel producer in world: Scindia in Parliament

Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday that India had become the second-largest steel producer in the world in the last eight years.

India's consumer good shipments to Russia rise for 2nd month in Oct: Govt

During October, India exported goods worth $280 million, up 3.7 per cent as compared to a year ago, led by demand for items such as vegetables, tea, coffee, chemicals as well as iron and steel product