Venezuela urges aluminum firms to present recovery plan

BNamericas quoted Mr Arquímedes Hidalgo spokesperson for the Sintralcasa union as saying that Venezuelan aluminum producers are required to present a sector recovery plan to the country's basic industries and mining ministry during the first quarter of 2009.

Mr Hidalgo said that "The plan will be drawn up under the premise that no more raw materials will be produced for export. It will all be tagged for diversifying what we already have. A Mibam committee in charge of the issue said that USD 1.9 billion will be needed for getting companies up to date."

A mining ministry official said that the ministry has allegedly approved a recovery plan that includes paying off debt and updating technology at companies in the sector.

It may be noted that unions from the four state companies in Venezuela's aluminum production chain namely Alcasa, Venalum, Bauxilum and Carbonorca, have been asking the government for several months to invest in technological upgrades at their plants to overcome the operational crisis they are currently experiencing.

Iron ores at China's ports decrease

The amount of iron ore stocked at China's 19 ports dropped to 59.99 million tons as of December 19, down 19 percent from the previous month, according to MySteel.
Meanwhile, prices of spot iron ores have risen periodically.

Zeng Jiesheng, analyst with MySteel, attributed the current situation to steel price rise and the subsequent production resumption of a number of steel plants in recent time.

Currently, CIF price of Indian powder iron ore has increased to 80 US dollars/ton, up 20 percent from early November.

Chinese domestic spot ore prices have risen correspondingly. One example is factory price of powder iron ore in Tangshan up 14 percent to 722 yuan/ton.

Some analysts noted that such trend of iron ore stock drop, and price rise won't maintain long since the downstream steel market hasn't come to a real recovery.
Most steel plants that resume production currently are small and private ones, while large steel enterprises still keep output cut by 50~60 percent since they have overstocked imported iron ores under long-term agreements, according to Du Wei with Umetal.com.

Mr Paswan lays foundation for steel processing unit in Gaya

It is reported that Mr Ramvilas Paswan union minister for steel, fertilizer and chemical has laid the foundation stone of a steel processing unit at Eru in Gaya.

Steel Authority of India Limited’s Eru steel processing unit would start production in August 2010 with a target of 100,000 tonne of TMT bars annually.

Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone, Mr Paswan said that there was no future for youths in Bihar and they are forced to go to other states to appear for job recruitment examinations and become victims of regionalism as in Mumbai and Assam.

Mr Paswan said that his ministry is ready to open the closed steel unit at Anjhor which would be possible only if the state government transferred the land.

LN Mittal sees steel demand rebounding soon

Bloomberg quoted Mr LN Mittal CEO of ArcelorMittal as saying that he expects demand to rebound on very low inventories and it may ramp up output in 2009.

He said that "If the demand will start improving in the first quarter or the second quarter, we will increase production volumes. We cut output by 35% and it was very aggressive for us."

Mr Mittal said that "Inventory levels are very low in the system. I do not think there will be an additional production cut. We need to continue watching the market."

It may be noted that steelmakers in Europe, Asia and the US have cut production as demand slumped amid the global economic recession. Worldwide crude steel production declined 12.4% in October.