July 2014 edition vol 1 issue 2 sinsteel asia

July 2014 Edition Vol. 1 Issue 2

STEEL DIGITAL MAG 2014

Find Out What’s Brewing For The Steel Industry On Page 2 Onwards ->

Creating Greater Value ~ Advance SCT Advance SCT Limited has evolved from being a recycler of metals to becoming a global supply chain manager of natural resources.

It owns and operates wastewater treatment facilities, produces copper-based products for the electronic and power industries, and has investments in mining and metal processing technologies. Leveraging on its expertise and exposure in the metal industry, the Company aims to turn itself into a major resource-based company in the world.

Advance SCT Limited has been listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange since 24 November 2004.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------新亞控股集團是一家知名的銅製品供應商，主要工廠設置於中 國大陸南 部以及台灣地區。本集團在電子材料設計製造亦處於 本地區領先水平。同時，本公司已與歐洲金屬加工公司締結戰略 聯盟，著手研發高科技附 加值的新一代熱交換器系統。該產品 的問世將對傳統的熱交換器市場產 生巨大的衝擊。 在生產和研發銅製品之外，公司亦著眼於開發其他的可利用資 源，位於 中國南部的污水處理中心便是公司尋求轉變的顯著標 誌。該中心設立的 目的便是改善當前金屬行業的弊端，使本公 司真正成為一個世界知名的 資源節約型集團。 新亞集團於 2004 年 11 月 24 日起在新加坡證券交易所主板上 市。

Steel Industry Demands Easing Of Duty On Scrap Imports (With new policies likely to raise demand, ore mining restriction an issue) Dilip Kumar Jha | Mumbai July 7, 2014

With Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari proposing to gamer Rs 100,000 crore for the development of highways into two years, steel mills are expecting a revival in demand. The scrap imports is likely to pick up as the country is not producing enough ore to meet the demand.

The steel sector is demanding easing of duty on scrap import.

Import had fallen last year. Fears of ore prices shooting up due to rising steel demand may not hold true as sources said rising scrap import will help check ore prices. The latter have declined by 28 per cent this year to trade at $96.5 a tonne for delivery in China.

Read more @ link : http://www.businessstandard.com/article/markets/steel-industry-demandseasing-of-duty-on-scrap-imports-114070701206_1.html

China, Taiwan Face EU – Tariff Threat On Stainless Steel The European Union threatened to impose tariffs on stainless steel from China and Taiwan to curb competition for EU producers including ArcelorMittal (MT) and ThyssenKrupp AG. The EU began an inquiry into whether Chinese and Taiwanese exporters of cold-rolled flat products sold them in the bloc’s 5.5 billion-euro ($7.5 billion) market below cost, a practice known as dumping. This kind of steel is used in everything from cars and tanks to boilers and kitchen equipment.

The investigation will determine whether the steel “is being dumped and whether the dumped imports have caused injury,” the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The commission has nine months to decide whether to impose provisional antidumping duties for half a year and 15 months to decide whether to apply “definitive” levies for five years.

The investigation may revive EU-China trade tensions over steel more than five years after European producers complained that Chinese competitors had dumped a range of goods inEurope, prompting a series of dumping inquiries. One of those probes covered stainless steel cold-rolled flat products and was closed in 2009 without the imposition of EU antidumping duties.

The probe announced today stems from a May 13 complaint

by European steel industry group Eurofer on behalf of producers that account for more than a quarter of the EU’s output of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products, according to the commission.

Brussels-based Eurofer hailed the new investigation, saying in a statement that European imports of stainless steel coldrolled flat products from China and Taiwan rose at an “alarming rate” last year and unfairly undercut EU manufacturers.

The two countries’ combined share of the EU market exceeded 14 percent in April this year and the dumping margin was 20 percent, according to Eurofer, which cited overcapacity in China and Taiwan.

“This is no longer sustainable,” said Eurofer Director General Gordon Moffat. He accused Chinese exporters of “flooding the markets which are still unprotected like the EU.” The EU market for stainless steel cold-rolled flat products in 2013 was worth about 5.5 billion euros, of which imports from China and Taiwan were valued at 620 million euros, according to Eurofer. Total EU imports of this steel last year were worth about 1.5 billion euros, Eurofer said.

In volume terms, the EU market in 2013 was 3.4 million metric tons, of which 318,000 tons were imports from China and Taiwan, according to Eurofer.

Top Steelmakers Profit Boosted By Cheaper Coal : Corporate India

By Abhishek Shanker and Rajesh Kumar Singh

Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

India’s steelmakers are set for a rebound. Falling fuel costs just as a new government promises to revive demand growth from the slowest pace in five years are burnishing their earnings outlook.

Contract prices of cooking coal, used to fire furnaces, may drop 7 percent to about $112 a metric ton next quarter from the three months through June, according to the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg from eight industry executives and analysts. Spot prices have tumbled 17 percent

this year as demand in China shrank and Australian supplies increased.

At least three of 13 analysts have raised earnings estimates for Tata Steel Ltd. (TATA), Steel Authority of India Ltd. and JSW Steel Ltd. (JSTL), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Though the producers have struggled to boost profit margins from near a decade-low as an economic slump crimped demand, their shares have outperformed the benchmark index this year on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to build 100 cities and rekindle stalled projects.

“We expect coking coal contract prices to drop,” JSW’s Group Financial Officer Seshagiri Rao said in an interview. “Business sentiment is upbeat and construction has picked up well, which means we are selling more and are also able to raise prices.”

Relying on Imports Coking coal is scarce in India, with the biggest mine in the eastern state of Jharkhand trapped in a century-old underground fire. India imports about 65 percent of its coking coal requirement, with the top three steelmakers accounting for half of the purchases. State-owned Steel Authority, the biggest importer, uses the shipments to meet 70 percent of its needs.

China’s efforts to cut pollution coupled with an overcapacity in sea-borne coking coal will weigh on prices of the commodity, saidHelen Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB Kay Hian Ltd. The world’s biggest consumer is also planning to reduce a steel capacity glut, estimated at 210 million tons, according to

Bloomberg Industries analysts Zhuo Zhang and Kenneth Hoffman.

Demand for the alloy in India may rise at least 4.5 percent in the 12 months ending March 31, rebounding from less than 1 percent last year, the smallest since 2009, fueled by construction and automobiles, according to Jayant Acharya, director at JSW Steel.

Peeyush Gupta, vice president at Tata Steel, estimated 5 percent in a newsletter last month.

Better Estimates “The July-September period may be one of the best quarters for Indian steel companies as alloy prices remain high and costs for buying coking coal fall,” said Giriraj Daga, analyst at Mumbai-based Nirmal Bang Equities Pvt. “There can be positive surprises.”

The forecast for Tata Steel’s group net income for the current financial year was raised by six of 13 analysts who updated their projections this month, according to estimates compiled

by Bloomberg. ICICI Securities Ltd.’s Abhijit Mitra was the most bullish, lifting his forecast by 46 percent to 40 billion rupees.

For JSW Steel, five of 12 analysts increased profit estimates, with Nirmal Bang’s Daga elevating his by 32 percent to 31.7 billion rupees, while three of 10 Steel Authority (SAIL) analysts raised net income projections. Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd.’s Sanjay Jain boosted his forecast by 12 percent to 31.9 billion rupees.

Share Rally New Delhi-based Steel Authority declined 1.4 percent to 92.95 rupees in Mumbai. Tata Steel retreated 1 percent to 525.80 rupees, and JSW Steel also fell 1 percent to 1,221.90 rupees, in line with the drop in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

(SENSEX) Also leading gains in the $1.5 trillion stock market are India’s utilities, banks and builders as investors bet Modi will clear the investment backlog after taking power last month.

The rally may extend as Modi’s policies lead to higher corporate earnings and fewer bad loans at lenders, Rohit Singhania, who runs the BlackRock Inc’s the DSP BlackRock India T.I.G.E.R. Fund, which invests in shares of nation’s infrastructure companies, said in an interview on June 12.

Operating profit margins are set to improve after the key gauge of profitability narrowed in the 12 months to March 2013 to the least in 10 years for Tata Steel, smallest in 11 years for Steel Authority and to the worst since at least 2007 for JSW, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Consumer Spending The profit margin at Tata Steel’s Indian operations may expand to 38 percent this financial year from 26 percent, while Steel Authority may see it doubling to 10 percent from 5.2 percent and JSW Steel’s at 13.65 percent versus 11.87 percent, according to the estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Prime Minister Modi has vowed to build 100 new cities, provide houses to all citizens by 2022, introduce high-speed trains and low-cost airports connecting smaller towns, as he seeks to revive economic growth from a decade low.

A rebound in growth may also increase consumer spending, spurring vehicle sales, said A.S. Firoz, chief economist at the federal steel ministry. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the nation’s biggest carmaker, reported a 19 percent increase in May deliveries, the best in nine months after the industry survived the worst slump in a decade.

“The thrust of the government is to improve infrastructure and boost economic growth,” Firoz said by phone in New Delhi. “A natural consequence of an improving economy is a rise in consumption. All of that is great news for the steel industry.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Abhishek Shanker in Mumbai atashanker1@bloomberg.net; Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi atrsingh133@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.netIndranil Ghosh, Abhay Singh

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