PTI reported that amid a weak trend on the London Metal Exchange and profit booking by speculators, Indian copper prices fell by 0.25% in futures trade. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, copper for delivery in August fell by INR 1.05 or 0.25% to INR 427 per kilogram with a business turnover of 3,345 lots. It had closed 0.72% higher at INR 428.05 per kilogram in the previous session. The metal for delivery in…

Indian foundry units are facing a severe threat of losing USD 1.95 billion of exports business to competing countries like China and Taiwan due to the recent levy of import duty on metal scrap - the only raw material for producing critical equipment for the heavy-engineering sector. Effective May 8, the government levied 2.5 per cent of import duty on all types of scrap imports, including aluminium,…

BS reported that union government has scrapped its plan to promote Ultra Mega Steel Plants. Each plant was expected to have a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum. The idea was to give a big boost in the effort to meet burgeoning demand in Asia’s third largest economy. This comes when the sector is slowing, with low demand, a halt in commissioning of new projects and a severe raw material crunch. Steel…

Bloomberg reported that Indian Railways, Asia’s oldest rail network will buy new wagons and build more coaches to upgrade infrastructure and compete with highways to carry goods in the world’s second fastest growing major economy. Ms Mamata Banerjee minister of India Railway said the state owned railway will buy 18,000 wagons and set up a factory to make 500 coaches a year. She kept freight rates and…

Reuters reported that India's scrap aluminium traders are in talks with the government to seek a rejection of a request by primary metal producers for an import duty charge on scraps. Statement from the custom authority said the Aluminium Association of India, which represents the interests of the private primary aluminium producers, filed a request late last month to the directorate general of safeguards…

BS reported that India's stainless steel industry may have 1.3 million tonnes of surplus output by the end of next calendar year on the back of massive capacity additions by domestic producers. Mr NC Mathur president of Indian Stainless Steel Development Authority said that total production is estimated to surpass 4 million tonnes by the end of 2012 against the anticipated consumption of 2.6 to 2.7 million…

The steel ministry has urged Indian steel majors to take a visionary approach in promoting research programs. To spur investments in R&D, the ministry has asked the government to consider enhancing the deduction on expenditure under Section 35 of the Income Tax Act to 150% from 125% now. In a recent policy paper on the status of R&D, the ministry pointed out that actual investment by companies was just…

PTI reported that backed by improved demand from auto and construction sectors, the country's steel production increased by nearly 4% to 4.49 million tonne in April compared to the corresponding month 2008. In April 2008, the finished steel production stood at 4.33 million tonne. As per provisional figures of Steel Ministry's Joint Plant Committee, even as the overall steel output went up last month, two of…

Dow Jones citing senior industry official reported that Indian zinc consumption is likely to grow by 8% to 10% in 2009 from 500,000 tonnes last year, as the country's spending on infrastructure will rise despite a global slowdown. Mr L Pugazhenthy ED of the India Zinc Lead Development Association said that "India's per capita consumption is very low at 0.4 kilograms as compared with the world average of 1.8…

A northern Indiana foundry plans to capitalize on the auto industry crisis, hiring 52 workers to expand its product lineup to fill market voids. Auburn-based Metal Technologies Auburn LLC plans to fill a combination of full-time and temporary positions. Senior Vice President Jeff Turner says an investment exceeding $1.5 million will position the company to fill auto-industry niches likely to be vacated by…