KOSPO SEEKING 65KT STEAMING COAL

Monday, 09 May 11

Korea Southern Power Co (KOSPO) issues tender for 65000 Mt of Steaming Coal Supply with a minimum CV of 4,500 kcal/kg on NAR basis. Delivery is between June 1 and July 31 on either FOBT and/or CFR basis. The bids close on May 18 15:00 (KST), according to company's website.

KOSPO has recently awarded a Panamax size coal supply contract.

For further details about tender click here

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(sourced Coalspot)

KEPCO considers overseas coal trading firm by end-2012

Wed Feb 16, 2011

* In talks with foreign partners, local utilities -sources
* Trading firm could be located in Singapore -one source
* To start with coal and expand to LNG and uranium -sources
* Plans for futures trading for risk management -sources
(Adds more details and quotes)
By Cho Mee-young

SEOUL, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) , state-run utility in the world's No.3 coal buyer South Korea, aims to set up its first coal trading firm in a move that could give a boost to spot market trading in Asia in the face of surging prices.
The proposed firm, due to be set up by the end of 2012, will be based overseas and will possibly be a joint-venture with foreign partners and local utilities, company and industry sources said on Wednesday.

KEPCO may set up the new trading company in Singapore, one person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. However, a company source said the location has yet to be decided.
The government and president of South Korea, the world's No.2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer after Japan and No.5 crude oil importer, have been calling for various ways to efficiently secure commodities and energy as global prices rally. The country imports almost all its feedstocks for power generation.

The trading firm may signal a shift from the norm of securing large volumes under long-term contracts to buying via the spot market, as more Asian utilities break away from decades-old fixed-price purchases to a flexible trading model to cope with growing price volatility.
"The firm will procure and trade coal from those overseas mines where KEPCO holds stakes to supply local utilities, as so far there has been no coal trading entity for the utilities," said one company official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

He said that KEPCO is in informal talks with foreign utilities and trading firms to be its partners, although major trading companies were excluded so far.
KEPCO has stakes mainly in coal mines in Australia and Indonesia, its two major suppliers, he added.

HERALDS ACTIVE TRADING

Should more utilities enter spot trading, it could herald growing demand for coal derivative products as power companies seek hedging instruments to manage price risks, traders said.

"We plan to eventually expand the firm's procuring and trading products to other raw materials for power generation including uranium and liquefied natural gas," the KEPCO official said.

"At the initial stage, the firm will focus on physical trading, but in the long term, it may trade futures for risk management if trading volumes expand and supplies diversify."

An Asia-based trade source said the proposed trading firm would enable KEPCO not to rely on tenders and that they could buy coal on the open market more easily.

Reflecting the persistently strong prices, annual negotiations between Australian coal producers and Japanese utilities for thermal coal contracts expected to meet or exceed record levels seen in 2008.

"It will mean more liquidity in Asia," said another source based in Singapore.

"Hopefully, we can see more North Asian companies coming to Singapore to trade. So far, the Koreans are definitely the most aggressive in the spot market."

South Korea has five utilities, which are fully owned by KEPCO -- Korea Midland Power Co Ltd, Korea Western Power Co Ltd, Korea East-West Power Co Ltd, Korea South-East Power Co Ltd and Korea Southern Power Co Ltd. KEPCO also fully owns Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd.

In August 2009, Korea East-West Power Co Ltd and trading company LG Corp considered a joint venture in Australia mainly to procure coal in the spot market, industry sources close to the deal said at that time.

The talks have since collapsed, and KEPCO has leaned toward the plan for a coal trading firm, sources said. (Additional reporting by Rebekah Kebede in PERTH and Fayen Wong in SHANGHAI; Editing by Ramthan Hussain,sourced:routers)

Tags:KEPCO, overseas coal trading firm, South Korean news, coal spot market, Singapore

POSCO war Zone - Anti group PPPS warns of blood bath

Monday, 07 Feb 2011
The anti POSCO movement has decided not to give 'even an inch of land' for the mega steel project in Orissa even as the state government there is gearing itself to start land acquisition over the next two weeks.
POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti chairman Mr Abhaya Sahu said that anti POSCO movement is passing through a very critical stage after Union Minister for Environment and Forest Mr Jayram Ramesh gave clearance for the project.
He said “We have been fighting for the last five and half years. We will not give up the fight. People are ready to fight till the last drop of blood in their body.”
Mr Sahu said that people are facing the government sponsored repression on the behalf of South Korean company adding that whatever conditions that are laid down by Ministry of Environment and Forest for the project are merely an eyewash.
He said "The state government is preparing itself for land acquisition in next two weeks time. But the anti POSCO moment has decided not to give even an inch of land for the project.”
(Sourced from PTI)

Posco says no plan to develop coal mine in Mozambique

Tueday, 01, February 2011
By: Reuters
SEOUL– South Korea's POSCO , the world's No.3 steelmaker, said on Tuesday that it does not plan to develop a coal mine in Mozambique, denying its statement over the weekend for such a plan with Vale .
"We don't have any plan to develop a coal mine in Mozambique with Vale and our earlier statement had factually wrong information," POSCO said in a statement on Tuesday.
POSCO, which aims to double raw material self-sufficiency to 50% by 2014, has earmarked 700-billion won ($627-million) in raw material investment this year.

Last week, POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding with Anchor in Zimbabwe to build a joint mining venture to develop chrome, coal and other raw materials. (sourced:Reuters)

India gives conditional OK for POSCO mill-govt statement

NEW DELHI Jan 31, 2011 (Reuters) -

India's environment ministry gave conditional approval on Monday for South Korean POSCO's (005490.KS: Quote) $12 billion steel mill, a government statement said, in a boost for the foreign investment climate after several setbacks for large-scale industrial projects.

The ministry also conditionally cleared the plant's captive port and power plant. (Reporting by Nigam Prusty; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; sourced:Reuters)

India approves $12 bln POSCO steel mill

Environment ministry approves $12 billion project
* Project is single largest foreign investment in India
* Approval may ease concern about changing regulations

By Nigam Prusty and Paul de Bendern
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (Reuters) - India's environment ministry approved on Monday South Korean POSCO's plans for a $12 billion steel mill, a boost for the foreign investment climate after several setbacks for big ticket industrial projects.
The long-delayed clearance for India's biggest foreign direct investment -- as long as the company meets a series of environmental standards -- follows a year in which Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked several projects, raising criticism he was jeapordising India's growth story.

"Undoubtedly projects such as that of POSCO have considerable economic, technological and strategic significance for the country," the statement said. "At the same time, laws on environment and forests must be implemented seriously."
The mill in eastern Orissa state has been delayed by criticism it would ruin lives of thousands of poverty-stricken people, who say the plant will disrupt their betel leaf plantations and forest-based livelihoods.

India, one of the world's fastest growing major economies, needs foreign capital to boost infrastructure and allow its economy to grow at near double digits. But projects have met with protests from local farmers in this densely-populated country.
A government panel had earlier said there were no ecological concerns over the plant and the final decision was with Ramesh.
Posco is among several corporations, including Vedanta Resources, which have come under scrutiny from Ramesh, putting his ministry in conflict with others in the government who are pushing for rapid industrialisation.

A series of corruption scandals has shaken the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a recent minor cabinet reshuffle saw several ministers' portfolios change, but Ramesh stayed on as environment minister, indicating his influence.
The ruling Congress party head, Sonia Gandhi, is keen to win over farmers hit by big projects at well as ensuring industrial jobs are created -- a fine line that may have helped create regulatory uncertainty before state elections this year and a general election in 2014.

REGULATORY UNCERTAINTY
While investors tend to shrug off corruption scandals as a risk of emerging markets, regulatory uncertainty threatens to taint India's attractiveness as a destination for foreign firms eager for a slice of its booming $1.3 trillion economy.
In October, Ramesh threw out plans by London-listed Vedanta to expand its alumina refinery over worries it would destroy a "sacred" hill for tribal peoples, but this month Ramesh said he was willing to conditionally reconsider Vedanta's expansion plan.
That remark came soon after the ministry said it could consider approving Hindustan Construction Co's ambitious Lavasa project, a massive new town in a forested area near the city of Pune being built at a cost of $31 billion.
A back-and-forth on whether to ban iron ore exports in the Karnataka state has also worried investors. ArcelorMittal, the world's top steel maker, has also had faced years of delays in building several plants in India.

Approval for the Posco mill would see the Orissa government immediately starting to acquire land for the world's third-largest steelmaker's project.
Posco still faces a series of hurdles that could delay the project, such as a court case filed by a local firm against the Orissa government, contesting its decision to grant a mining concession to South Koreans.
India, which has not yet been able to exploit its potential as a natural resources-rich country, is keen on boosting its trade and political ties with South Korea while Seoul looks to tap into the $150 billion Indian nuclear power market.
Direct investors -- companies building factories or power plants or buying local firms -- often have less flexibility and more to lose than fund investors and are especially sensitive to regulatory uncertainty.
Leading global companies such as Wal-Mart Stores, Vodafone and Posco have been frustrated for years in their efforts to negotiate regulations in a promising but perilous market, and foreign direct investment has suffered.

Vodafone, India's biggest foreign direct investor to date, is fighting a 120 billion rupee ($2.6 billion) tax bill in a court battle and has complained about a telecoms regulatory structure that it said allowed too many players into the market. (Additional reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee; writing by Paul de Bendern and Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

POSCO takes 24pct equity in IMFA arm for USD 5 million

Sunday, 30 Jan 2011
ET reported that South Korean steelmaker POSCO has taken a 24% equity stake in an arm of India's largest ferrochrome maker IMFA.
POSCO has paid USD 5 million for the stake in a specially created vehicle that has ferrochrome operations.

The annual production of the joint venture furnace located within IMFA's Choudwar unit in Orissa, is 35,000 tonnes.
Under the agreement with IMFA, POSCO will purchase the low cost ferrochrome from the new furnace for 25 years.

Mr Subhrakant Panda MD of MFA said that "It's a three stage transaction where we first transferred a new ferrochrome furnace to a subsidiary, with POSCO taking 24% in the subsidiary. Subsequently, the subsidiary leased the furnace back to IMFA."

The listed parent IMFA, on the other hand, owns chrome ore, coal mines and power generation businesses, which would have commanded a steeper valuation. IMFA operates five furnaces with a total capacity of 150,000 tonnes. POSCO annually buys 480,000 tonnes of ferrochrome and has a similar long term supply contract to buy 35,000 tonne of ferrochrome from South Africa.(sourced:economictimes.com)