CHINA DISCONTENT: China's Ministry of Commerce says U.S. dumping and subsidy investigations on Chinese steel tubes and other imports "have aroused strong dissatisfaction in Chinese business circles." Ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei said that "the U.S. government continues the mistake of imposing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures from time to time." The U.S. International Trade Commission found on Friday that there is a reasonable indication of material injury from imports of Chinese circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe. The ITC vote means that the U.S. Commerce Department will continue its investigation. It will issue a preliminary determination on possible countervailing duties the end of August.
The U.S. is also begun antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from China, Korea, Mexico and Turkey.
MITTAL ACCELERATES PLANS IN INDIA: Lakshmi Mittal has told the Indian government that his ArcelorMittal now plans to build new steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa. Each will have an annual capacity of 10 million tons. Mittal announced the plans after he received a commitment from the government for access to iron ore and coal mines.
SAIL WANTS TO BE MITTAL'S FRIEND, TOO: Speaking of Lakshmi Mittal, the chairman of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), the state-owned steelmaker of India, said the company is open to talks with ArcelorMittal to explore "synergies." "We are open to discussion...as they have more expertise..." said S.K. Roongta, the Times of India reported.
INDIA TO CONSIDER STEEL APPROVALS: India's government has formed a group to review and coordinate work required to approve and expedite construction of new steel plants. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved formation of the group after Ratan Tata, CEO of the Tata Group, wrote to complain that major projects were being delayed by the government for no known reason. The projects total $58 billion of investment and involve POSCO, Tata, Mittal Steel and others.
JINDAL IN BOLIVIA: The Bolivian government has signed a contract with Jindal Steel and Power of India to mine and use iron ore from the El Mumtun deposit. The project includes development of 50% of the mine and construction of a steel plant. The iron ore deposit includes 40 billion tons of reserves.
GET READY FOR THE TIGER: The Shanghai Securities Journal says that Tiger Truck will open an Oklahoma plant to make light trucks designed by ChangAn Automobile Group of China. Tiger Truck, based in Dallas, plans to start with ChangAn's 1021 series of light trucks equipped with gasoline or diesel engines. The plant, at Poteau City, will assemble a full-sized pickup, the Champ, and a medium-duty truck, the Leopard. Initial capacity is said by the Chinese media to be 7,500 units a year.
BAOSTEEL FORMS ANOTHER ALLIANCE: Baosteel Group of China has formed a strategic alliance with Baogang Group of Inner Mongolia. Under the agreement, Baosteel management, expertise and markets will be used to help optimize the product structure of Baotou Iron & Steel Group, which Xinhua, the official news agency, said has an annual capacity of 10 million tons.
PLATE, PLEASE: A number of companies have announced plans to add plate-making capacity, among them Nippon Steel Corp. Nippon said this week that it will invest 20 billion yen (about $165 billion) to increase the plate capacity of its Oita Works by 10% for high-grade, thick steel plate products. When the project is completed in the first half of 2009, Nippon's plate capacity at Oita will rise by 600,000 tons a year, to 2.8 million tons, the Japanese financial journal Nikkei reported.
Also announcing a major plate project was POSCO, which will invest nearly $2 billion to expand production of thick steel plates to respond to South Korean demand from shipbuilders, construction companies and others. The plan permits POSCO to make full use of the iron output from its No. 4 blast furnace at Gwangyang. That facility will be completed in 2009.
POSCO SAYS NO TO KUDREMUKH IRON: The talk in India is that the government has asked South Korean steelmaker POSCO, which has had no end of trouble progressing with a proposed steel mill in Orissa state, to form a joint venture with a local company, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company. The thinking is that by allying itself with a local company, POSCO might be able to overcome the many objections raised to its plan. But POSCO says it won't consider the idea. "We have the strength, resources, technology and experience to manage operations," said Vikas Sharan, the company's chief representative in New Delhi.
BIRLA WANTS HINDALCO: Kumar Birla, the Indian billionaire, says he wants to take majority control of India's largest aluminum company, Hindalco. The Birla family already holds a 31.4% stake in Hindalco, the Hindustran Times reports. Under Indian law, founders of a company may raise their stake in it by five percentage points a year.
OUTOKUMPU WILL BUILD PLANT IN INDIA: Outokumpu Oyj of Finland says it will build a stainless steel service center in western India, with operations to begin in 2009, as well as a stainless cold rolling mill. The service center will stock up to 50,000 tons of stainless coil. Outokumpu says, while the rolling mill's annual capacity will be 250,000 tons.
ARE THE RUSSIANS COMING?: Published reports say that Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works of Russia is considering whether to build a steel plant in Scioto County, Ohio. Viktor Rashnikov, MMK's chairman, said that nothing definite can be said about the company's plans yet. "Today, we only study the legal norms and site conditions," he said.
MAYER WANTS TO MAKE VIETNAM PIPE: The online steel industry newsletter Steel Guru says Mayer Steel of Taiwan plans to build a pipe mill in Vietnam. The company reportedly plans to focus on pipes for mechanical structures.
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