Wednesday saw the world’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, presenting a gloomy picture of the company’s profitability, amid declining global demand and a strengthening dollar.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, accounts for around 6 percent of the global steel output. According to the company’s projections, the global steel demand is expected to grow between 0.5 and 1.5, from 1.5 and 2.5 percent forecasted earlier. Particularly, China, the US, Brazil, Russia and former Soviet Union states were included in these reduced forecasts. The company reported a net loss of $728 million for Q1 ended March 31, coming at the back of declining iron ore prices, a stronger dollar and surge in US imports.

New Delhi - With an above-global average output growth, India has retained its position as the world's fourth-largest steel producer this year but faces tough times ahead in 2015 amid growing imports and other concerns.

While production has grown at a pace faster than the global average for a significant part of 2014, demand has broadly remained sluggish and the sector is looking for a boost from the new government's stated emphasis on manufacturing and infrastructure sectors.

Hoping to benefit from the 'Make in India' programme, all steel producers would look to expand their capacity from about 100 million tonnes per annum currently.

Washington - The American steel industry today criticised a WTO ruling against the US imposing high duty on imports of certain Indian steel products, an order India hailed as a "significant victory" that will help its domestic manufacturers and exporters.

"The WTO decision today significantly weakens the effectiveness of US trade laws," said Thomas J Gibson, CEO and president of American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

AISI said the WTO Appellate Body ruled against the US government appeal of a challenge by India earlier this year regarding the International Trade Commission (ITC)'s practice of "cross-cumulating."

New Delhi - Government's disinvestment drive got a tremendous start Friday, with steel major SAIL's share sale being subscribed more than two times fetching the exchequer Rs 1,715 crore.

The first disinvestment offering this fiscal saw retail investors lapping up SAIL shares taking the overall subscription to 2.08 times (42.93 crore shares) of the 20.65 crore shares on offer.

Government's stake in SAIL will come down to 75 percent pursuant to this public issue, helping the company to meet Sebi's listing norms.

Government has set a target of Rs 43,425 crore through selling stakes in various PSU firms during the current fiscal.

New Delhi - Government's five per cent stake in steel giant SAIL will be sold at a floor price of Rs 83 per share on Friday, which can raise Rs 1,500-1,700 crore for the exchequer in the first disinvestment under the new regime.

"Government expects to garner Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,700 crore from SAIL disinvestment. Floor price will be Rs 83 and retail investors will get a discount of 5 per cent," an official said after a meeting on SAIL disinvestment in the Finance Ministry.

The SAIL offering would be the first PSU share sale under the new government, which targets to raise Rs 43,425 crore through share sales in various state-owned firms during the ongoing fiscal.

London, Oct 16 : A report has revealed that Tata Steel is planning to sell its Long Products Division that employs 6,500 people in the United Kingdom and Europe and includes operations in Scunthorpe and Teesside in England, and Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland.

Tata said it had signed a deal with Klesch Group , a company with headquarters based in Geneva, which may lead to a sale, reported the BBC. (ANI)

New Delhi: Cracking the whip on cash-starved Bhushan Steel, a consortium of bankers Monday ordered a forensic audit into the books of account of the company and asked its promoters to infuse more capital to ensure that it remains solvent.

The decision was taken at a lenders meeting Monday to take a stock of the situation following the arrest of Bhushan Steel Vice Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Singal by the CBI in an alleged cash for loan scam involving Syndicate Bank Chairman S K Jain.

Jamshedpur: Pitching for proper utilisation of resources, Tata Steel MD (India and South East Asia) T V Narendran today said it is "unfortunate" that steel and iron ore are being imported by a country blessed with rich mineral reserves.

"It is really unfortunate that we are importing steel and iron-ore whereas we have abundance of the mineral in the country," Narendran said.

New Delhi : With Rs 40,000 crore exposure to cash-strapped Bhushan Steel, PNB-led bank consortium will meet on August 18 to decide future course of action including setting up a team for day-to-day monitoring of financial affairs of the firm whose MD is embroiled in a bribery case.

"Banks, which together have exposure of about Rs 40,000 crore, will appoint a consultant to conduct forensic audit to ascertain if there was siphoning of bank loans," sources said.

Besides, a decision to station a team of bank nominees to monitor financial affairs at the company would be taken in the consortium meeting on August 18, sources said.

New Delhi: Global steel giant Tata Steel's consolidated net profit plunged by 70.38 percent to Rs 337.33 crore in the April-June quarter, mainly due to Rs 1,577 crore write-down in a project.

Tata Steel group had reported a net profit of Rs 1,139.01 crore during the corresponding quarter in 2013-14 .

Net profit for the quarter came in at Rs 337 crores, affected by exceptional charges despite improved operating performances across all geographies, the company said in a statement.

New Delhi : India has filed a notice of appeal against portions of the WTO order in a case relating to imposition of countervailing duty by the US on domestic steel products.

"On 8 August 2014, India filed a notice of appeal regarding the panel report in United States ? Countervailing Measures on Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from India," WTO said in a statement.

Washington: An independent US quasi-judicial federal agency has ruled out against imposing any anti-dumping duty against certain categories of steel threaded rod from India.

The ruling by United States International Trade Commission (USITC) came yesterday a month after US Department of Commerce determined that Indian steel threaded rod was being dumped in the country and sought imposition of anti-dumping duty against it.

New Delhi: Worried over declining profit in SAIL, the Steel Ministry has decided to appoint a globally-renowned consultancy agency to carry out a "diagnostic study" for enhancing the maharatna's performance.

The ministry will float a tender soon inviting expression of interest (EoI) from international firms to also look at ways operations of the country's largest steel maker can be improved and future expansion can be executed in time and without cost overruns.

New Delhi: SAIL is likely to invest around Rs 1.5 lakh crore to raise its hot metal making capacity to 50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 23 mtpa, planned under ongoing modernisation and expansion by 2025, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"Steel Authority of India Ltd has prepared a draft plan (Vision-2025) to increase its hot metal production to approx. 50 million tonnes by 2025 (in a phased manner), mainly through brown-field expansion," Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today said in Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi: State-owned SAIL and RINL together incurred average expenditure of more than Rs 7,000 crore towards maintenance of different plants in the last three financial years, the government said today.

Replying to queries on accidents at steel plants, the government told the Lok Sabha that all measures are being taken to prevent fatal incidents.

Accidents at steel plants are a "matter of concern" and the government is taking all measures to ensure security of people there, Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

London: Tata Steel is to cut an estimated 400 jobs at its plant in the UK as part of the company's restructuring process and to increase competitiveness amid sluggish demand.

Chief executive Karl Koehler said the changes at the Port Talbot plant in Wales were vital if Tata Steel, the world's 12th largest steelmaker, was to remain competitive.

The proposed changes are aimed at enabling the UK Strip Products business to compete in Europe's lower market demand era by reducing costs.

New Delhi: India's steel consumption grew marginally by 0.5 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal to 12.623 million tonnes (MT) over the same period last year.

According to the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), a unit of the Steel Ministry, India had consumed 12.563 MT steel during the April-May period of FY 2013-14.

New Delhi: State-run steel maker SAIL registered a growth rate of 11 percent in sales at 1.06 million tonnes (MT) in May this year.

The steel giant had registered sales at 0.96 MT in the same month last year.

"Rise in exports was to the tune of 76 percent on a y-o-y basis during the month. Production at SAIL plants kept pace with hot metal production of 1.26 MT achieved in May, registering a y-o-y growth of 4 percent," SAIL said in a statement.

In a bid to better cope with cheaper imports, Indian steelmakers have marginally slashed prices of their flat product like hot-rolled coil (HRC).

JSW Steel slashed the prices of hot rolled coil by Rs500-750 per tonne and prices of wire rod by Rs500 per tonne from the start of April.

Without divulging details of planned price cuts, a spokesperson for Essar Steel said that the company would lower prices of some of its commodity grade flat steel products in April.

Analysts have attributed the cut in prices to the combination of rupee appreciation and declining steel prices in the international market.

Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), March 3 - Bhilai Steel Plant, the flagship unit of public sector SAIL, concluded the April-February period of fiscal 2013-14 by registering growth of 3.4, 2.4 and 3 percent over corresponding period last year in cumulative hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel production respectively.

The plant achieved its annual business plan targets in hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel production. Cumulative hot metal production in the period has been 4.92 million tonnes (MT), while the plant produced 4.69 MT crude steel and 4.11 MT saleable steel during the period.