Ukrainian Grain Shipments Slow, ProAgro Says, Citing Ports

Ukrainian grain exports slowed in January’s first 20 days from a month earlier, agricultural researcher ProAgro said, citing preliminary port figures.

Corn shipments dropped to 551,300 metric tons from 1 million tons a month ago, Kiev-based ProAgro said today in an e- mailed statement, without giving a reason. Wheat cargoes slid to 90,900 tons from 292,700 tons and barley shipments jumped 18 percent to 45,900 tons, it said.

Another 854,200 tons of grains will be shipped shortly, including 646,000 tons of corn and 208,200 tons of wheat, ProAgro said.
Ukraine is seeking to supply Jordan with 100,000 tons of barley and is competing in a tender against Argentina, Australia, Russia and the European Union, the researcher said. Jordan will import the grain in the February-March period, according to ProAgro.
Sunflower oil shipments declined 2.7 percent in the period to 149,200 tons from a month earlier, ProAgro said. Another 108,900 tons of sunflower oil is to be exported in the near future, according to the statement. Sunflower oil went to India, Algeria, Spain, Turkey and Italy.

Rapeseed shipments rose by 17 percent in the period to 38,500 tons, the researcher said.

Source: Bloomberg

Iron Ore-Steady with a chance of slipping as China out

Iron ore steadied with trading activity nearly halted as top market China remained shut on Tuesday for the Lunar New Year holiday, blunting any impact from miner Vale's decision to lift a force majeure on Brazilian shipments.

Vale, the world's No. 1 iron ore producer, said on Monday it has resumed mining and export operations after rains eased in southeastern Brazil.
Vale earlier this month declared force majeure on iron ore shipments from Brazil, a legal clause that allows a company to break contractual obligations, because of heavy rains that cut its output by around 2 million tonnes.

Iron ore with 62 percent iron content was unchanged at $139.80 a tonne on Monday, according to Steel Index.
There are hardly any deals in the spot market with the Chinese away for the holiday and chances are prices may slip marginally, said Dhruv Goel, managing director at iron ore trading firm SteelMint in India's eastern Orissa state.

But Goel said Chinese demand for lower grade Indian iron ore has improved recently and he expects it to continue after the holiday.
"Chinese buyers are interested in buying low grade from India, as cargoes from Australia and Brazil are generally high grade," he said.

India's biggest iron ore miner, NMDC Ltd, has resumed operations in the central state of Chhattisgarh, which accounts for two-thirds of its annual ouput of 25 million tonnes, after protests disrupted railway movements for 10 days.

Local protests had forced NMDC to halt production and exports of iron ore from the mines. The protest was called off after the federal government agreed to improve the overall rail network in the Bastar region, a predominently tribal area that has roughly a fifth of India's iron ore deposits.

Reflecting a slump in Chinese buying, the Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, fell to its lowest in more than three years on Monday.
Expected slower growth in China's steel production this year could similarly curb its demand for raw material iron ore.

China's crude steel output rose 8.9 percent to around 683 million tonnes in 2011, versus a 9.3 percent clip in 2010. A Reuters poll in mid-December showed the country's steel output may reach 728 million tonnes this year, 6.5 percent higher than 2011.
Globally, steel production rose 6.8 percent to 1.527 billion tonnes in 2011, less than half the 15 percent increase in 2010, data from the World Steel Association showed on Monday.
 

Source: Reuters

China Steel Corp to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Gujarat

Taiwanese steel maker, China Steel Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government for setting up a electric steel plant at Dahej GIDC in south Gujarat. The company has promised an investment of US $ 178 million (approx. Rs 1,000 crore) for the project, largest investments by any Taiwanese company in India so far.

"We have acquired 50 hectares of land at Dahej GIDC and will start work for the project by June 2012. The commercial production of electric steel is likely to start from 2014 onwards. Most of our production will be supplied to the domestic market, while about 5 per cent will be exported to the Middle East countries," said J D Lin, chairman, China Steel Corporation India Pvt Ltd (CSC India), a subsidiary of China Steel Corporation (CSC).

The Dahej project will be company's first investment in India with an initial capacity of 200,000 tonnes of electric steel per annum. The company may consider expanding its operations after the success of the Dahej project. 

According to company officials, electric steel would be used in power equipments industry including compressor, electric motors, generators and transformers. Currently, electric steel is priced at US $ 800 per tonne.

The company has signed the MoU in presence of state chief minister, Narendra Modi, and Ong Wen-Chyi, ambassador, Taiwan R.O.C., besides officers from the company and Gujarat government. The project is likely to generate employment for 200 people locally.

"With CSC India's project at Dahej, total investments of Tiwanese companies in India stands at around US $ 1.2 billion (approx. Rs 6,000 crore). Over the next five years, the investments are likely to grow at a rate of around 10-15 per cent and cross US $ 1.7 billion (approx. Rs 8,600 crore) in India," said Wen-Chyi. The investment has been approved by Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, R.O.C, he added.

According to Wen-Chyi, many Taiwanese companies have set up their manufacturing base in states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the areas of IT and telecom equipments as well as sports shoes manufacturing. "Gujarat has become a prefered venue for Taiwanese industries and we will encourage more companies in Taiwan to make investments here," added Wen-Chyi while speaking to media persons in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.
CSC India will import semi-processed coils as a raw material from different countries and use Dahej port facility for berthing.
 

Source: Business-Standard

Iron Ore Prices to Remain Steady on China Demand, Steel Output

Iron ore prices will probably be supported by "robust" demand in China, the biggest steel producer, outweighing concerns that global economic growth may slow, according to Mine Life Pty.
“There has been weakness in other parts of the world but because China is going to hold up reasonably, prices are going to stack up pretty well,” said Gavin Wendt, founder and senior resource analyst at Mine Life in Sydney. Prices may average between $130 a metric ton and $140 a ton this year, he said.
China’s economy may grow 8.4 percent this year, compared with global growth of 2.5 percent and a 0.3 percent contraction in the euro area, the World Bank said Jan. 18. World production of the steel ingredient looks to be “stabilizing”, Credit Suisse Group AG said in a report yesterday. Steel output in China rose in December, after declining for six months through November, World Steel Association figures show.
“Their demand for steel, production of steel and their consumption of iron ore is going to remain fairly robust,” Wendt said, referring to China. “There’s enough demand out there to sustain prices, and the production side seems to be reasonable.”
Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, suspended a force majeure on some of its supply contracts after heavy rain that hindered output in southeastern Brazil subsided, the company said yesterday. Vale said Jan. 11 that it will lose 2 million tons of the steelmaking ingredient output, about 20 percent of its January output of iron-ore in southern Brazil, because of heavy rain in three of the country’s states.
“We expect a continued pick-up in global steel production run rates through 2012,” Credit Suisse analysts including Ric Deverell wrote in the report. The company maintains “our positive outlook for iron ore prices through the coming year.”
Iron ore with 62 percent content delivered to the port of Tianjin traded unchanged at $139.80 a ton yesterday, data from The Steel Index showed. Prices are up 0.9 percent this month, after gaining 5.8 percent in December and 11 percent in November.
 

Source: Bloomberg