India Rises as 3rd Largest Steel Producing Country

India is the fourth largest steel producer in the world. However, for the first five months of 2015, India jumped to the third spot after China and Japan, respectively, outranking the U.S., which placed fourth.

While large-scale steel plants contribute to the bulk of India’s steel products, the steel re-rolling sector is an equally important player. Moreover, the steel industry is doing well with a growth of more than 8 percent for the 2014-2015 period per Union Minister of Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar.

Image source: ritambanerjee.com

The steel industry in India is already massive with approximately 750 players but is currently being expanded by sourcing new technology and markets thus giving access to much needed long-term economic profit. India’s steel and iron industry is also anticipating mergers and acquisitions in the long run.

Large-scale companies are leading the initiative in research and development and infrastructure to set up good facilities and address problems in the energy efficiency and environmental impact. The Ministry of Steel empowers not only large-scale businesses but also small entrepreneurs to align business interests with environmental protection.

Image source: thehindu.com

The determination, conviction and hard work of all the business owners and project stakeholders in the country’s steel industry have brought outstanding results.

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REPOST: Rising steel imports spur calls for action in Washington

According to this Hellenic Shipping News article below, the U.S. is already taking steps to thwart the increasing number of foreign steel imports in the country. Learn more about this issue below.

Image Source: hellenicshippingnews.com

Steel imports to the United States are increasing and so are calls from the industry for Washington to take action against overseas competitors.

That action may include a possible anti-dumping complaint, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported on March 16 that the CEOs of major US steel producers are planning to testify later this month at a hearing in Washington about what they see as a flood of imported steel.

Imported steel into the US continues to rise even as the domestic industry furloughs thousands of employees. The US steel industry is also being hindered by reduced demand due to a slowing of drilling for natural gas and oil from shale projects that have been put on hold as crude prices have collapsed.

In an e-mail statement to China Daily on Tuesday, the American Iron and Steel Institute said that imports surged to an historic record market share last year. “US finished steel imports from all countries increased 36 percent in 2014 and captured 28 percent of the US market last year — the highest import market share in history — compared to only 23 percent in 2013,” AISL said. “Our industry continues to evaluate whether the situation warrants trade case filings.”

The institute said “the very high level of Chinese steel exports in 2014 and 2015 are of great concern” to the US steel industry. AISL said China’s global exports reached a record level of 93.78 million metric tons of steel in 2014, a 51 percent increase over the previous year. “US imports of Chinese steel increased by an even larger 68 percent over the same period and China was the second largest source of steel exports to the United States,” according to the institute.

For the month of January 2015, data from AISL and the US government show other countries are exporting more steel to the US than China.

AISL’s data on imports of finished steel mill products for January shows South Korea, Turkey and Japan with greater exports into the US than China’s 198,000 net tons. According to preliminary data from the Census Bureau’s Imports for Consumption of Steel Products from Selected Countries and Areas, Brazil, Canada and South Korea exported more steel into the US in January than China’s 180,359 metric tons.

Commenting on the steel data from the Census Bureau, Adam Hersh, a senior economist at the Roosevelt Institute and a visiting scholar at the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue in New York, said in an e-mail to China Daily that he believes it is for final goods.

“Intermediate Chinese steel goods are very often traded through third countries where the goods may or may not undergo some qualitative transformation, for example rolling threads on or heat-treating pipe goods, and then are re-exported. These are pretty minor value-adds, but they obscure the real origin of content in the statistics. The US shouldn’t be concerned about imports as a matter of course; they should be concerned about ensuring an open, level-playing field on which the entire world’s steel producers can compete,” he said.

China has said that it produces too much steel and has been taking steps to address the situation. Steel exports from China, the world’s largest producer, rose to a record in January as the country shipped 10.29 million metric tons of steel products, a 52 percent rise from the same month of the previous year, according to data released by the customs administration in Beijing.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last month the bloated steel industry will continue to experience tough times this year despite years of government efforts to address overcapacity in the sector.

Yet, the industry continues to produce more.

“The steel industry is deemed strategic for national security and economic security purposes. Dealing with overcapacity has been a goal in the last two Five-Year Plans, but we have seen very little progress in rationalizing the industry in China,” said Hersh.

He also noted that steel is a major input used in many other areas critical to China’s overall economic growth such as infrastructure, real estate, and a wide range of manufactured goods. Overcapacity keeps steel prices low for these industries that consume steel, helping keep investment and output prices cheaper than they otherwise would be.

The Wall Street Journal report said a hearing in Washington might be a prelude to the launching of an anti-dumping complaint with the International Trade Commission. Dumping is the export of a product at a price that is below the cost of its production.

According to the newspaper, the China Iron and Steel Association have labeled previous efforts to curtail Chinese exports as protectionist measures.

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Steel is in: Current trends in steel buildings

Steel buildings are becoming more popular in the world of construction. Builders are starting to use their own modern techniques to make their projects more durable and aesthetically pleasing. Residential communities and industrial sectors choose and invest in steel materials because they see the numerous environmental and economical benefits of doing so.

Image Source: jlmsteel.com

Sustainable and eco-friendly structures

Most industrial buildings pollute the environment with chemical emissions. To prevent further damage and reduce pollution, the steel industry is moving towards sustainable technology, erecting buildings and structures that are energy efficient, weatherproof (local climate must be considered), and can conserve waste. The steel used in construction can be recycled as well.

Pre-engineered kits

Pre-engineered kits are ready-made structures that combine built-up sections, hot-rolled sections and cold-formed elements that provide the basic skeleton of a building, with basic panels for roofing and wall cladding. These kits are very versatile - they can be fitted with structural accessories and are perfect for low-rise buildings. Because they are pre-built, they save a lot of time and money that could’ve gone to assembling and building. Plus, they are lightweight and totally weatherproof.

Image Source: capitalsteelbuildings.wordpress.com

Conserving energy

Architects and builders use insulated metal panels (IMPs) or cold-formed steel (CFS) to control heat transmission throughout the structure. These things, compared to most construction materials, do not require too much foam for insulation to reduce of eliminate thermal bridging, thus increasing energy, cost, and time efficiency.

Image Source: metalconstructionnews.com

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Steel: A key driver in the world’s economy

Image Source: bloomberg.com

Due to its high tensile and affordability, steel has easily become one of the world’s most valued commodities. Its broad applications—from machine tools to household instruments—have steeled the material as an all important product in nearly all industries.

In Europe, for example, steel has remained a competitive and indispensable industry that services a wide range of fields such as mechanics, shipbuilding, automotive, appliances, packaging, construction, and transportation. According to recent data, the European commission estimates the worth of the EU steel sector at €150 billion, with a production of roughly 200 million tons of steel annually.

Image Source: epthinktank.eu

In other parts of the world, steel production has remained strong and productive. China, which is the biggest steel producing country in the world, accounted for nearly 50 percent of the world steel production in 2013. This, according to experts, is due to the country’s rapid modernization, construction, and increasing investments in infrastructure and manufacturing industries.

Other countries with significant steel production are Japan, United States, and India.

Today, steel has become a strategic industry essential to the growth and stability of some of the world’s most powerful countries. It has helped nations build the face of the planet through various infrastructure technologies and material innovations. Not only has it helped improve our treasures, but it also has become a fundamental part of society and people’s modern way of life.

Image Source: investorplace.com

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