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Showing posts with label Wednesday March02 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wednesday March02 2011. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

India second largest importers of Indonesian coal in 2010


Wednesday, 02 March 2011

Indonesia, the world largest coal exporter, shipped 24.68 million tons of coal in January 2011, which was 1.19 percent higher Y-o-Y but 10.84 percent lesser M-o-M. Indonesia has exported 284.83 million tons of coal including semi coking and LRC coal in year 2010, according to our source who is familiar with Indonesian coal exports.
Exports to China
January 2011 has witnessed a drop in Indonesia's coal exports to china by 43.63 percent compared to December 2010 exports. January exports of Indonesian coal to china amounted to 4.796 million tons as against 8.510 million tons in December 2010. Last year Chinese's utilities have imported more Indonesian coal than Indian Utilities. Out of Indonesian Coal Exports in 2010 China accounted for 74.570 million tons which is around 26.18 percent of the total coal exports.

India 2nd largest Importer
India became the second largest importer of Indonesian coal in 2010. 47.593 million tons of Indonesian coal has been imported both by government and private utilities of India in 2010. India’s January 2011 imports of Indonesian coal have jumped significantly. India has imported 6,099,932 MT of coal in January 2011 compared to just 3,885,454 MT in a month ago or 56.99 percent higher than December imports. In 2010 Indonesia has exported 16.70 percent of its total coal exports to India.

Top five Indonesian coal importers in 2010 were China, India, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

India reduces import duty for Indonesian coal
India has introduced special reduced rate of import duty for Indonesian coal since January 2011. Thereby Indonesian coal enjoys 2% cheaper import duty in India compared to other origins of coal. According to market players, Indonesian coal is subjected to a duty of 3 percent as against 5 percent for other origins of coal.

Indonesian coal traders must hold IUP OP KPP
Early January Indonesia has implemented temporary coal export ban on coal traders until 4th of February. After a month of ban, finally Indonesia has allowed few coal traders to resume coal exports. According to government officers, as of 18th February, Indonesia has issued 63 trading or export licenses to Indonesian coal trading companies. Still few hundreds of applications were in process with the mining department. This ban led to lower exports by around 10 percent compared to December 2010 exports.

Indonesian ban on coal below 5600 GAD by 2014
As per the news sources Indonesian government is contemplating a ban of coal with calorific value below 5600 Kcal/kg on GAD basis by 2014. In order to get export eligibility LRC coal producers asked to upgrade their coal to 5600 GAD or more. If not miners will have to depend on home market. This move of the Government makes the message clear that value added product should only be exported. This action encourages miners to establish additional facilities and generate additional employment or to sell the raw product within the country as more domestic consumption is predicted in the coming years. Export of Value added product enhances the inward remittances and fetches more taxes and revenue.

However, experts and some major stake holders are of the opinion that the proposed ban by 2014 may not be practical due to non availability of commercially viable upgrading and conversion technology at this moment. Also the infrastructure needed for this type of mammoth activity of beneficiation and upgrading of coal needs large sums of investments. According to industry sources, worldwide the upgrading technology is in the nascent stages and yet to be established. At this moment there is no proven technology is available to upgrade coal at a workable cost. Due to these reasons and also to protect the export income many big coal producers are lobbying with the Government to dilute the seriousness of the proposal.

Low calorific value coal accounts for almost 60% of the total Indonesian coal production or exports an exporter said. International coal prices are still at lower level and it will not be workable for upgraded coal to compete with coal that has been produced from other countries including new comers such as Mozambique and Mongolia. Once the logistical bottlenecks are cleared, these two countries become big competitors for other coal producing countries. In this context how the proposed ban on below 5600 GAD coal would take a shape is much crucial and an acid test for the Government to sustain the heavy pressure from LRC coal producers and also politically an important year due to Presidential/general elections.

Indian investment in LCV coal mines
According to industry sources, there was a spate of Indian companies’ investment in several low GCV coal mines in Indonesia with a motive of attaining fuel security. According to available data, more than two dozen Indian companies have already invested in coal mines in Indonesia and some of them are already in production. Majority of Indian investors in Indonesia were end-users and the purpose of investment was purely captive use. The reaction of this captive investor’s is yet to be seen if the bans seriously considered and implemented by 2014. In which case they might claim exemption for their captive usage in India or withdraw their existing investments and channelize the same to other upcoming promising destinations like Mongolia, Mozambique and Australia. One of the serious investor opined that in case such ban is inevitable the Indian investor arbitrage on the cost of upgradation Vs migrating to other viable destinations. However, one trend is clearly emerging that Indian coal mine investments abroad are seeing steady increase. The evidence of recent acquisition of Western Australia’s Griffin Coal Mines for a whopping US$ 750 Million by Lanco group or aggressive investments in Mozambique, South Africa and Queensland shows the urge of Indian industry main agenda of attaining a level of continuous and reliable coal supplies. Understand US coal started coming to India. One of the major cement plants in west coast India contracted for 7 shipments of high sulphur, high calorific value coal from US on CFR terms at much cheaper cost than Indonesia. According to a major power developer in India, majority of the Indian private power plants would start operating by end 2013, hence all the Indian industries are seriously scouting for acquiring mines abroad. In view of the current uncertainty of high calorific value coal mines availability in Indonesia and the threatening proposal of ban below 5600 gad coal making them to focus on other origin coals. Moving higher calorific value coals by capesize vessels are seen as the cheaper remedies to counter the vagaries of Indonesian low calorific value and high moisture coals with stringent regulations and threat of recurring Force Majors.

ICRP
Indonesia already successfully implemented monthly coal reference price for its coal. Coal producers were asked to comply with the government declared index prior to conclude any short term and long terms coal sales agreement with its buyers. Indonesian HBA have raised fifth straight month and it was at US$ 127.05 in February 2011.

Tags :import duty on coal by India, raw material, steel mills, power plant,

Mixed fortunes for dry bulk owners this week - Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping


Wednesday, 02 March 11

Although the dry bulk market has been on the positive side this week, things still look quite uncertain in the near term, with most owners puzzled as to what their next move should be in such a fluid market environment. Still, the industry’s benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) managed to edge higher yesterday, ending the session up by 0.88% to 1.262 points. But the irregularities among the various sub-segments still are the new “regularities”, with Capesizes (larger ship sizes of 150,000 tons) still earning significantly lower daily income than their smaller counterparts. Up until recently, this had been the case with Panamaxes, with the gap among the two markets, now being among the largest recorded. But, the Supramaxes good fortunes during the past couple of weeks, has helped the even smaller and more flexible ships of this type, to edge forward and surpass even the Capesize segment. The relative Baltic Supramax market is now standing at 1,418 points (+1.43% on the day), versus just 1,314 points of the Baltic Capesize Index.

According to the latest weekly report from Shiptrade Services, on the capesize market iron ore majors are once again out of play this week with new cylcones hitting major ports in Australia. “As a result hardly any fixtures were concluded. The negative freight market, further burdened by the rising bunker prices is shrinking owners returns, who more
often than not have been considering pulling their vessels out of the market until the it picks up again. On the other hand the period market has been quite active this week with good returns, as a result, it often stands as a good alternative to owners” the shipbroker said.

Regarding the booming as of late Supramax market, it mentioned that “the sentiment was positive this week in the Mediterranean, mostly for trips to the US as well as the Continent as a result of fresh cargoes entering the market and a rush of activity deriving thereof. Rates in the Atlantic mainly stayed at similar levels to last week with little fresh enquiry recorded within the Atlantic. The Pacific continued its improvement this week with much activity being directed towards India. Rates have been rising in the spot market as a result. Here too the rise in the paper market has given rise to some significant gains in the short period rates. However many doubt the longevity of this positive sentiment” it said.

As for the Panamax market, it has softened in the Atlantic since last week, with grain demand noted then from the ECSA, now fading, thus resulting in dropped rates. “In the Pacific, the sentiment was mixed with few NOPAC round being concluded while rates hovered at similar levels to last week. On the other hand, the paper market firmed up giving rise to higher returns in the short period market. Finally, in the smaller HandySize market, no significant change has been recorded since last week. The Atlantic healed more or less steady with a generally balanced supply ratio. A spike of activity was seen in the Pacific for trips to the USG and ECSA boosting rates for backhaul trips by over 20% .

In terms of ship purchasing activity, Shiptrade noted that purchase interest has been reduced compared to the previous week. “The Asia markets are holding the leading position, followed by Greek and other markets. In the dry sector, purchase interest concentrated on Handysize, Handymax and Panamax vessels. Furthermore the market is still trying to find a consensus and an equilibrium point with regard to price estimation differences between what buyers are willing to pay for vessel acquisitions and on what levels sellers are willing to sell.

In this regard it would be helpful to mention that although for quite some time we have not witnessed a deal in the late nineties built handymaxes, market rumor has it that a large Japanese handymax bulk carrier built 1996 has been committed to Asian buyers, who were willing to pay a firm very high teens for her” concluded the report.
Source: Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping

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Severstal sells Warren, Wheeling and Sparrows Point US-based facilities


Wednesday, 02 March 2011

The Russian steel and mining company Severstal has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell three assets of its North American division Severstal North America, including the Sparrows Point, Warren and Wheeling facilities, to the Renco Group, a US-based private holding company.

The transaction is expected to be completed in March 2011, subject to customary completion conditions, including expiration or early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.

As transaction consideration, Severstal will receive $125 million in cash, a $100 million secured note, and the repayment of $317 million of third-party debt at closing. Renco will also assume various Severstal financial liabilities including employee-related and environmental liabilities totaling $650 million.

The sale will leave Severstal North America focused on its Dearborn and Columbus facilities which are some of the most modern and efficient in North America, said the company.

Tags: USA , Russia , CIS , North America , Severstal , M&A , steelmaking

MMK invests over $73 million in environmental safety improvement in 2010


Wednesday, 02 March 2011

The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that in 2010 it implemented 35 special projects for environmental safety improvements for a total of over Ruble 2.2 billion (over $73 million).

Accordingly, most of the projects were aimed at developing increasingly safe water and gas purification systems and waste disposal facilities. MMK said it would work on 10 additional projects of the kind in 2011.

As a result, in 2010 MMK was able to reduce gross atmospheric emissions by 8,200 tons while its crude steel production increased by 18.7 percent and its commercial steel product output rose by 17 percent.

The share of recycling water consumption at MMK stood at 97.3 percent of the total water intake of the company. The volume of reusable waste for sintering mixture grew by 6.4 percent to reach 2.182 million mt. The volume of recycled slag increased to 9.152 million mt (up 32.75 percent from 2009).

Tags: Russia , CIS , MMK , investments , steelmaking

Russian Railways: Steel product shipments up 11.6 percent in Jan-Feb


Wednesday, 02 March 2011

According to the preliminary data issued by Russian Railways (RZhD), in January-February 2011 steel product shipments on Russia's railways increased by 11.6 percent to 12.3 million mt, shipments of iron ore and manganese ore went up by 7.1 percent to 16.8 million mt, shipments of ferrous scrap increased by 17.2 percent to two million mt, while shipments of coke went up by four percent to two million mt, all compared to January-February 2010.

In January-February 2011, total shipments on Russia's railways increased by 7.9 percent year on year to 189.9 million mt.

Tags: scrap , iron ore , raw mat , Russia , CIS , steelmaking , trading , Met Coke

ArcelorMittal to acquires stake in G Steel Plc

Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011
The Bangkok Post reported that world's largest steel company ArcelorMittal will become the largest shareholder of financial troubled G Steel Plc after agreeing to pay USD 250 million to acquire 40% of the SET listed hot rolled steel manufacturer.
The report quotes a company executive as saying that the agreement will be signed in Bangkok today, allowing the Luxembourg-based company to acquire new shares of G Steel.
Details of the fresh capital to be injected by the new investor and the price per share are expected to be released after the signing.
Following the capital increase, the Leeswadtrakul family will see a dilution of ownership in G Steel.(sourced:The Bangkok Post)

Macroeconomic indicators - Index of six core industries for January 2011

Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011
The Index of Six core industries having a combined weight of 26.7% in the Index of Industrial Production with base 1993-94 stood at 295.6 (provisional) in January 2011 and registered a growth of 7.1% (provisional) compared to 9.8% registered in January 2010. During April-January 2010-11, six core industries registered a growth of 5.6% (provisional) as against 5.5% during the corresponding period of the previous year.
Crude Oil
Crude Oil production (weight of 4.17% in the IIP) registered a growth of 10.8% (provisional) in January 2011 compared to a growth rate of 9.8% in January 2010. The Crude Oil production registered a growth of 11.9% (provisional) during April to January 2010-11 compared to (-) 0.1% during the same period of 2009-10.
Petroleum Refinery Products
Petroleum refinery production (weight of 2.00% in the IIP) registered a growth of 8.7% (provisional) in January 2011 compared to growth of 3.8% in January 2010. The Petroleum refinery production registered a growth of 2.4% (provisional) during April to January 2010-11 compared to (-) 0.5% during the same period of 2009-10.
Coal
Coal production (weight of 3.2% in the IIP) registered a growth of (-) 1.2% (provisional) in January 2011 compared to growth rate of 5.4% in January 2010. Coal production grew by 0.8% (provisional) during April to January 2010-11 compared to an increase of 8.0% during the same period of 2009-10.
Electricity
Electricity generation (weight of 10.17% in the IIP) registered a growth of 9.3 % (provisional) in January 2011 compared to growth rate of 6.4% in January 2010. Electricity generation grew by 5.0% (provisional) during April to January 2010-11 compared to 5.9% during the same period of 2009-10.
Cement
Cement production (weight of 1.99% in the IIP) registered a growth of 1.8% (provisional) in January 2011 compared to 12.4% in January 2010. Cement Production grew by 4.1% (provisional) during April-January 2010-11 compared to an increase of 11.1% during the same period of 2009-10.
Finished (carbon) steel
Finished (carbon) Steel production (weight of 5.13% in the IIP) registered a growth of 8.2% (provisional) in January 2011 compared to 16.8% (estimated) in January 2010. Finished (carbon) Steel production grew by 7.8% (provisional) during April-January 2010-11 compared to an increase of 5.7% during the same period of 2009-10.