Outotec has won an order from Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) for the design and delivery of an iron ore sinter plant for SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh. Outotec will implement the turnkey plant project in consortium with Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Outotec does not disclose the contract value, but typically technology solutions with corresponding scope range from € 20 to 25 million. The new sinter plant is part of SAIL's program of expanding the annual capacity of the Bhilai Steel Plant to 7 million t of crude steel. Outotec's scope covers engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment as well as technical services for a sinter plant with annual capacity of 3.7 million t.

Vale has signed contracts with Gerdau Açominas to transport steel products and coal using Vale's logistics infrastructure - Vitória-Minas Railroad (EFVM) and Praia Mole Terminal (TPM) in Espírito Santo - over the next three years. In 2010, it is envisaged that 4.5 million t of freight will be transported under the deal, rising to 6.2 million t in 2012. This is the largest freight transport deal ever made with Gerdau Açominas, one of Vale's three biggest steelmaking clients. The steel products will be transported on the EFVM from Gerdau Açominas' plant in Ouro Branco, Minas Gerais, to TPM at Tubarão Complex in Espírito Santo. Around 2 million t of these products will be transported in 2010, increasing to 3 million t in 2012.

Rio Tinto announced an investment of US$1.6 billion to develop the Hope Downs 4 iron ore project in Western Australia and link with Rio Tinto's existing rail, power and port infrastructure in the Pilbara. Rio Tinto and its joint venture participant, Hope Downs Iron Ore Pty Ltd, will proceed with the development of the mine at an estimated capital cost of US$1.2 billion (Rio Tinto share US$607 million), to be shared equally by the JV partners. The new open-cut mine will have an annual capacity of 15 million t of high-quality iron ore, with first production anticipated in 2013.

RHI AG has recently assigned a management function: Franz Buxbaum, 54, is named head of RHI’s Raw Materials Division, effective September 1, 2010. Buxbaum is, together with his team, responsible for the Group’s entire raw material activities. Buxbaum has held various management positions within RHI AG since 1996. His most recent assignment was the responsibility of the Raw Materials Divisions’ manufacturing. Franz Buxbaum has a degree in technical physics from University Graz and an Executive MBA from Imadec University Vienna – San Francisco. Before coming to RHI 14 years ago, Buxbaum worked with Steyr-Daimler-Puch, Böhler, Veitsch-Radex as well with Tyrolit Schleifmittelwerke Swarovski in Austria. Ernst Stoelzel, the former head of this division, has requested his resignation.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has published the 2010 edition of its mainland China map of steel plants. The large format wall poster is now available for purchase at worldsteel. The map highlights the essence of the Chinese steel industry, showing the geographical and economic landscape of the country’s steel industry at a glance. It includes information such as: Crude steel production by company and by province; Steel product type by company; Crude steel production and apparent crude steel use (past 10 years); Apparent crude steel use per capital (past 10 years); Structure of iron ore supply; Iron ore production by province; Coke production by province. China produced 568 million metric t (mmt) of crude steel in 2009, which represents 46% of world total. The country consumed 542 mmt of finished steel products in 2009, 48% of global market share.

Corus Speciality Steels has increased transaction prices for its aerospace products by between 4% and 10% on orders acknowledged for delivery after 1 January 2011. The price increase will apply to the full range of air melted and remelted products in ingot, slab, billet, bar and coil form, which are produced at the company’s South Yorkshire sites in the UK. Richard Lowe, Corus aerospace sales manager, said: "The demand for aerospace products has been increasing throughout the year, which has extended the lead times for materials. At the same time the outlook from aircraft manufacturers has improved. We are expecting production levels of large passenger jets, for instance, to increase from next year, which is already generating demand for raw material."

The Timken Company yesterday announced it will increase prices on cold-drawn carbon and alloy seamless mechanical tubing by up to 30 %, depending on the size and product specification. This price increase is effective with shipments beginning on October 1, 2010. Raw material surcharges will remain in effect.

Corus UK Limited and Sahaviriya Steel Industries Public Company Limited (SSI), Thailand’s largest steel producer, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which sets out the scope of a potential transaction whereby SSI would acquire from Corus the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) business in a transaction valued at approximately US$500 million (GBP320 million). The deal, if successfully concluded, is expected to create a significant number of new jobs at the plant in addition to TCP’s existing workforce of over 700 and will provide a considerable boost to the local economy. The assets covered by the MoU include the Redcar and South Bank coke ovens, TCP’s power generation facilities and sinter plant, the Redcar Blast Furnace and the Lackenby Steelmaking facilities.

Consistent with its strategy to serve growth throughout Asia, The Timken Company has opened a new office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Affiliated with the Timken Singapore Pte, Ltd. subsidiary, the Jakarta office will serve growing demand in the region, particularly from customers in the metals, mining, cement, rail, energy and power generation industries. "Establishing an office to provide local support to distributors and customers is an important step to enhance our service in this market," said Roger W. Lindsay, senior vice president of Timken Asia-Pacific. "With this new location, our representatives and distributors will be able to increase the availability of Timken products for machinery and equipment, which is vital to the region’s development."

Triton, a European private equity investor with a strong presence in the Nordic region, has concluded an agreement to acquire all shares in the companies belonging to the Bar, Bright Bar, and Tube and Ring divisions of Ovako, a leading European steel producer. These companies produce and market long special steel products in the form of bars, chromed bars, tubes and rings as well as components for the vehicle and general engineering industries. The transaction does not include Ovako Group’s operations belonging to the Wire Division, which produces and markets long special steel products in the form of wire rod and PC strand.

In order to meet the strategic development demand of Xinjiang Bayi Steel, Bayi Steel Coking Coal Group is accelerating the capacity expansion of each mine now, aiming to form 7 million t of coal production capacity in the upcoming 3 years. Recently, accompanied by vice president of Baosteel Group Corporation, chairman and Party secretary of Bayi Steel Zhao Xia, chairman Xu Lejiang and vice president Dai Zhihao of Baosteel Group Corporation went there for investigation and instructions. Xu Lejiang pointed out that the Coking Coal Group will play an important role in the development of Bayi Steel in future. He wished that Coking Coal Group can speed up the development, and provide practical experience and human resource support for Baosteel to develop and consolidate the coal resources at home and abroad.

Shanghai Baosteel Packaging Co., Ltd. is established and inaugurated recently. This is a major decision made by Baosteel in order to enlarge and enforce the metal packaging industry, to enhance core competitiveness and to allocate resource efficiently. The newly established Shanghai Baosteel Packaging Co.,Ltd consists of Shanghai Baoyi Can-making Co.,Ltd., Baosteel Can-making branch companies located in Chengdu, Foshan, Hebei and Wuhan, the originally Shanghai Baosteel Iron-printing Co., Ltd. and its Beijing branch. This newly established company put together the production, management and sales skills of metallic steel two-piece cans and metallic iron-printing in Baosteel Metal Co.,Ltd. The assets scale extends to RMB 1 billion.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 115 million metric t (mmt) in July. This is 9.6% higher than July 2009. China’s crude steel production for July 2010 was 51.7 mmt, an increase of 2.2% compared to July 2009. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan produced 9.2 mmt of crude steel in July 2010, up 20.4% compared to the same month last year. South Korea’s crude steel production for July 2010 was 4.8 mmt, 16.2% up compared to the same month last year. In the EU, Germany’s crude steel production for July 2010 was 3.5 mmt, an increase of 29.7% on July 2009. The UK produced 0.8 mmt, -5.8% less than the same month in 2009. Turkey produced 2.4 mmt of crude steel in July 2010, 1.3% higher than July 2009.

A new, modern blast furnace, which will become the "B" furnace, will form the hot metal base of ArcelorMittal’s capacity expansion at their Monlevade plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Sized at 8.0 m hearth diameter, with 22 hot blast tuyeres, it will deliver 1.12 million t of hot metal per year to the steelmaking facilities. ArcelorMittal awarded to the Paul Wurth Group a design and supply contract for the new "B" furnace and all auxiliary plants which provides for such modern technologies and state-of-the-art equipment as: central feed bell less top charging system, TMT stockline detectors and probes, a cooling system with copper and cast iron staves. The cold blast will be generated by an electrically driven blower, the hot blast by a 3-stoves group with ceramic burners and with all stoves and blast valves of Paul Wurth design.

Im zweiten Quartal 2010 ist der Auftragseingang in der deutschen Werkzeugmaschinenindustrie weiterhin unerwartet stark um 71 % gestiegen. Einen Schub verzeichnete die Inlandsnachfrage mit 81 %; die Auslandsorders zogen um 66 % an. Im ersten Halbjahr 2010 notierte die Gesamtnachfrage 58 % über dem Vorjahr. Inländische Kunden bestellten 51 %, ausländische Abnehmer 61 % mehr als 2009. "Der Auftragsmotor läuft derzeit wieder auf Hochtouren", kommentiert Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Geschäftsführer des VDW, das Ergebnis. "Auf den steilsten Absturz in der Geschichte der Werkzeugmaschinenindustrie folgen nun die höchsten Zuwachsraten seit den frühen 70er-Jahren." Besonders erfreulich wertet er den hohen Zuwachs bei der Inlandsnachfrage im zweiten Quartal. Dies zeige, dass die Produktion in weiten Teilen der deutschen Industrie wieder Tritt gefasst hat.