Steel prices hiked by up to Rs 2,500/t

Major domestic steel producers have increased prices by up to Rs 2,500 per tonne across various products. This is the second time that steel manufacturers have revisited prices in as many months.

In January, while the public sector companies increased prices by Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per tonne, private companies hiked prices by Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per tonne.

The largest domestic steel manufacturer, Steel Authority of India Ltd, has increased prices by Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 per tonne across product categories, while Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), the holding company of Vizag Steel Plant, hiked them by Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500.

“The company after increasing prices in the beginning of January by Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 per tonne, made a correction on January 28, when they were further hiked by Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500. ,” a RINL official told Business Line.

“We have increased the prices in line with market conditions by Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel only in the spot market,” an official from Tata Steel said. Essar Steel Ltd also orchestrated a rise by 7-8 per cent, or Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 a tonne, mainly to offset higher input cost. Ispat Industries, it is learnt, has also followed suit and taken prices northwards by Rs 2,000 per tonne.

“According to estimates, prices of coking coal increased by 20 to 25 per cent in the last couple of months and the companies are paying close to $ 60 - $ 70 per tonne as ocean freight for a Panamax vessel. Iron ore prices, on the other hand, have risen by over 30 per cent in the international spot market during the last two months and are currently around $ 200 per tonne,” sources said.

Tata Chem testing waters for biofuel foray

Tata Chemicals, one of the world’s leading inorganic chemicals manufacturers, may get into the biofuel business on a large scale if its pilot project at Nanded, Maharashtra, is successful.

“The project is on an experimental basis and we have decided to limit investments at this stage to a maximum of Rs 50 crore,” said P K Ghose, executive vice-president and CFO, Tata Chemicals.

“If the project is successful, we will invest in biofuel manufacturing in a big way. This will involve investments totalling several hundred crores of rupees.”

Tata Chemicals is setting up a pilot biofuel manufacturing unit in Nanded, which will be operational in 2008-09.

Praj Industries has been contracted to set up a 30 kilolitres a day bioethanol plant, which will use sweet sorghum as raw material for making bioethanol.

The company is also exploring options to produce biodiesel from jatropha plants. Agro-climatic trials and related studies of the crop are progressing in Maharashtra and Gujarat at five centres, according to sources.

Biofuels is an emerging business opportunity in India, thanks to the initiative taken to use ethanol as an automotive fuel.

The Mukesh Ambani promoted Reliance Life Sciences is planning a major foray into biodiesel based on jatropha, for which it is setting up a pilot facility in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.

Adjacent to this facility, Naturol Bioenergy Limited has started an integrated oleochemical complex to process biodiesel and allied products with a capacity of one lakh tonne a year, one of the largest in the world.

KEC International gets Rs 100cr contract

KEC International, a Mumbai-based leading power transmission equipment company, has bagged a contract worth Rs 56.87 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India for supply and construction of 400 KV double circuit transmission lines in Ranchi — Rourkela segment; and another order worth Rs 40.66 crore to execute a 132 KV transmission line in North Bihar on a turnkey basis.

The first order is to be executed in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa and the job involves supply of towers, line materials, erection and commissioning. The length of the line is 141 kilometer and the project is scheduled to be completed by November 2009, according to a company release issued to the stock exchanges.

The second contract from Powergrid is for supply and construction of 132 KV single circuit and double circuit transmission line in North Bihar . The line is associated with Phase -II project of Bihar sub-transmission system. The job involves supply of towers, conductor, insulator, other line materials, erection and commissioning. The length of the line is 150 kilometre and the project is scheduled to be completed by July 2009.

Aditya Birla Retail to invest Rs10,000cr

Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), the retail arm of the Aditya Birla Group, would be investing Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore in expanding its operations across the country over a period of five years.

The company, which aims to emerge as one of the leading retail players in India, plans to have nearly 1,500 supermarket and 100 hypermarket stores in the next five years. It is also investing in backend infrastructure to develop a robust supply chain, Sumant Sinha, chief executive officer, ABRL said.

ABRL, which launched its first store in May 2007 at Pune, currently has nearly 400 supermarket stores and one hypermarket store. Its retail footprint in South India extended to 275 stores following the acquisition of Trinethra Super Retail stores last year. The company is setting up a hypermarket in Baroda by this month-end. At present, it has one such store in Mysore.

Announcing the rebranding of the Trinethra stores to 'More' here today, Sinha said the company is looking at all options, including coming out with an initial public offering, to raise funds to finance its expansion programme.

Andrew Denby, chief executive officer (supermarkets), ABRL, said the company's retail stores served 2 million customers last month.