In this issue

The Future of Capacities..?

The Ministry of Steel in collaboration with Joint Plant Committee and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) recently organized a first of its kind conference to interact with the secondary steel industry and emphasized the role of this segment of the industry in fulfilling government’s vision of 300 mnt of steel capacity by 2025. Most of the iron ore buyers are concerned over high cost of the key raw material especially when demand and off-take of finish products is poor. The government has assured of intervention to ramp up mineral production to bring in much needed synergy in prices and availability of the key raw materials to the secondary producers.

This problem solving approach and commitment towards addressing each and every issue of the ailing steel industry was much lauded in the media and expert forums. This was soon after the finance ministry announced an import duty hike (of 2.5%) on key steel products the second time in the year. Visibly, the government is leaving no stone unturned to safeguard and promote the iron & steel sector of the country. Only if these duty hikes will be able to contain imports from the neighbors especially China, only time can tell.

The capacity build up in China juxtaposed against falling domestic demand is a dreading sight. At over 822 mnt (in 2014), China produced about 49% of world’s total steel output. It exported over 11% of this to neighboring nations like South Korea (13 mnt), Vietnam (6.6 mnt), Philippines (4.8 mnt), India (3.8 mnt) in Jan-Dec period last year. Experts have predicted that China in the current year, its surplus will grow to over100 mnt, which it will have to dump in the neighboring markets. What will China do with the additional production especially with anti dumping duty on Chinese steel products imposed by numerous nations and initiation of antidumping investigation by many others, will be watchful.

Steel 360 Magazine Description:

Steel 360 is a monthly magazine covering the metal and mining industry in India. The magazine has a readership of 50,000+ across the globe in the metal and mining fraternity across the country (print circulation only in India). Each issue of the magazine carries a highly informative cover story; write-ups on trending topics, market prices & offers, current news from the metal & mining industry, latest technology trends, columns from industry veterans, import-export statistics, information on upcoming events and much more.
The magazine is a comprehensive handbook to numerous Managing heads, Directors, CEOs, Technical Heads, Marketing/Purchase/Sales Managers, Analysts and other key decision-makers at various business groups in the metal, mining, research, financial services, infrastructure and other related sectors.

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