India will continue to remain a net importer of steel during the current fiscal with demand growing at around 11.2 per cent while growth in production is expected to be around 5.2 per cent, the Minister of Steel, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, said here on Saturday.
During the first six months of this fiscal, steel imports have increased by around 50 per cent to about three million tonnes (mt) compared with the corresponding period of last fiscal, the Minister said at the National Steel Consumers' Council meeting. The domestic demand for steel is expected to touch 109 mt by 2012-13 and the expected production would be around 124 mt through brownfield expansion of the existing companies. The Minister felt that steel prices were likely to fall due to the present global slump in demand. JHARIA MINES The Minister said that private and public sector steel companies have proposed forming a consortium along with Coal India to revive Jharia mines and seek its coking coal reserves, which are estimated to be around 500 mt. "We will write to the Coal Ministry about the steel producers' interest in saving the mines as well as rehabilitate the people," the Minister said. The estimated cost for reviving the Jharia mines and rehabilitate the five lakh people residing around it would involve an investment in the range of about Rs 8,000-10,000 crore, which steel producers are ready to bear, he added http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/10/05/stories/2008100550780200.htm Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Kences1" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
