|
| |
|
General
Characteristics
- Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon,
containing less than 2% carbon, 1% manganese and small amounts
of silicon, phosphorus, sulphur and oxygen. Steel is the
most important engineering and construction material in
the world. It is the most important, multi-functional and
most adaptable of materials. Steel production is 20 times
higher as compared to production of all non-ferrous metals
put together.
- Steel compared to other materials of
its type has low production costs. The energy required for
extracting iron from ore is about 25 % of what is needed
for extracting aluminum.
- There are altogether about 2000 grades
of steel developed of which 1500 grades are high-grade steels.
The large number of grades gives steel the characteristic
of a basic production material.
|
Categories of Steel
- Steel market is primarily divided into
two main categories - flat and long. A flat carbon steel
product is a plate product or a (hot or cold) rolled strip
product. Plate products vary in dimensions from 10 mm to
200 mm and thin flat rolled products from 1 mm to 10 mm.
Plate products are used for ship building, construction,
large diameter welded pipes and boiler applications. Thin
flat products find end use applications in automotive body
panels, domestic 'white goods' products, 'tin cans' and
the whole host of other products from office furniture to
heart pacemakers. Plates, HR coils and HR Sheet, CR Sheet
and CR coils, GP / GC (galvanized plates and coils) pipes,
etc. are included in this category.
- A long steel product is a rod or a bar.
Typical rod products are the reinforcing rods made from
sponge iron for concrete, ingots, billets, engineering products,
gears, tools, etc. Wiredrawn products and seamless pipes
are also part of the long products group. Bars, rods, structures,
railway materials, etc. are included in this category.
- Sponge Iron / Direct reduced iron (DRI):
This is a high quality product produced by reducing iron
ore in a solid state and is primarily used as an iron input
in electric arc furnace (EAF) steel making process. This
industry is an integral part of the steel sector. India
is one of the leading countries in terms of sponge iron
production. There are a number of coal-based sponge iron
/ DRI plants (in the eastern and central region) and also
three natural gas based plants (in the western part of the
country) in the country.
|
Global
Scenario
- The total output of word crude steel
in 2003 stood at 945 million tons, resulting in a growth
of 6.7% over the previous year.
- China is the world's largest crude steel
producer in the year 2003 with around 220.12 million tons
of steel production, followed by Japan and USA. USA was
the largest importer of steel products, both finished and
semi-finished, in 2002, followed by China and Germany.
- The world's largest exporter of semi-finished
and finished steel was Japan in 2002, followed by Russia
and Ukraine.
- China is the largest consumer now and
consumption of steel by China is estimated to increase by
12-13% in 2004.
Indian Scenario
- India is the eighth largest producer
of steel with an annual production of 36.193 million tons,
while the consumption is around to 30 million tons.
- Iron & steel can be freely exported
and imported from India. India is a net exporter of steel.
- The Government of India has taken a
number of policy measures, such as removal of iron &
steel industry from the list of industries reserved for
public sector, deregulation of price and distribution of
iron & steel and lowering of import duty on capital
goods and raw materials, since liberalization for the growth
and development of Indian iron & steel industry.
- After liberalization, India has seen
a huge scale addition to its steel making capacity. The
country faces no shortage of iron and steel materials
|
Factors Influencing
Demand & Supply of Steel Long and Steel Flat
- The demand for steel is dependent on
the overall health of the economy and the infrastructure
developmental activities being undertaken.
- The steel prices in the Indian market
primarily depend on the domestic demand and supply conditions,
and international prices.
- Government and different producer and
consumer associations regularly monitor steel prices.
- The duty imposed on import of steel
and its fractions also have an impact on steel prices.
- The price trend in steel in Indian markets
has been a function of world's economic activity.
- Prices of input materials for iron and
steel such as power tariff, freight rates and coal prices,
also contribute to the rise in the input costs for steel
making.
|
| Monthly Variation in Steel Prices from
Feb 2002 - Dec 2 |
| Percentage Change |
>
5% |
2 - 5%
|
< 2 % |
| |
No. of Times |
|
| Ingots - Mandi |
2 |
10 |
10 |
| HRC 2.5 - Mumbai
|
8 |
3 |
11 |
| HRC 2.0 - Imported
|
12 |
4 |
6 |
| HRC fob - Europe |
5 |
9 |
8 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
