Indian steel industry examines opportunities at 'Steel and Raw Materials Forum'

Indian steel industry examines opportunities at 'Steel and Raw Materials Forum'.

The conference witnessed engaging deliberations from the representatives from the Government of India and renowned industry stalwarts from Public Sector Organizations and major international and Indian steel companies. The global steel market has recently observed the meteoric rise of India when it became the 3rd largest steel producer of the world surpassing Russia and United States of America. And now when the country is aiming to climb up one slot even further by 2012, riding on its steady annual growth rate of 8-9% and expecting to touch 110 -120 million tonnes of crude steel production capacity, it is evident that the industry will actively scrutinize the challenges it may face on its growth path and assess the opportunities of the sector in order to realize those. At this backdrop, "mjunction services limited" in association with CRU Events organised ‘Indian Steel 2011 – Steel and Raw Materials Forum’, a three-day symposium , 22nd to 24th November, 2011 at Trident Nariman Point, in Mumbai providing the industry leaders a perfect forum to discuss on the sectoral issues and solutions.

Global economic uncertainties and high interest rates have impeded the growth in steel consumption in the last few months. To add on to the issue, the price volatility of raw materials such as iron ore, coking coal along with minerals, ferro alloys, scrap, sponge iron, and pig has also negatively affected the overall performance of steel industry. However, industry leaders have forecasted a revival in the coming months considering the country’s special thrust on developing Infrastructure. It is predicted that India’s massive earmarked investment in infrastructure in the tune of $500 billion will eventually lead to improved activity in project construction, real estate and power sectors, which in turn will make steel demand to continue to grow at over 10% CAGR till 2020. The seminar analyzed these issues and explored the key growth drivers of the steel sector as industry leaders evaluated the introduction of latest technologies for increased efficiency and reviewed the impact of price risk management in managing the production quality.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Viresh Oberoi, Founder CEO and Managing Director, mjunction services limited said, “The Indian infrastructure industry is headed for an impressive growth in the coming years and steel industry is the key support sector for infrastructure development. The vital requirement is conducive policy measures along with industry innovation and competitiveness to make the most of the available opportunities. Through this forum we aim to assess the pressing challenges and determine the growth path of the Indian steel industry from a global perspective, so that Indian steel manufacturers benefit and grow efficiently”.

The conference witnessed engaging deliberations from the representatives from the Government of India and renowned industry stalwarts from Public Sector Organizations and major international and Indian steel companies. The dignitaries at the conference included eminent personalities like S Machendranathan, Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser, Ministry of Steel, Shuman Mukherjee, Director-Commercial, SAIL, Franco Alzetta, COO, Danieli & C, Prasad Baji, Senior Vice President, Edelweiss Capital, Mr. Ranjan Dhar, Head National Sales, Essar Steels, Jeffrey Kabel, Executive Director, J P Morgan, Soli Mullan, Head Steel Procurement, Godrej & Boyce, Malay Chatterjee, CMD, Hindustan Steelworks Construction, Rajeev Pai, CFO, JSW Steel, Dr. O. P Jha, ED, Jindal Power, Ren Qing Ping, Shanghai Wubo Steel Structure Material Co Ltd, and Dr.-Ing. Jens Kempken, Executive Vice President, Project Development, SMS Siemag AG, Derek Macauley, Technical Director, Promet Engineers, Ashok Kumar, Chief, Raw Materials & Iron Making Technology Group, Tata Steel.