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Steel Street How do you make Steel City's 'Gay Street' Sandwich? I am absolutely in love with Steel City's (in Phoenixville) garden wrap sandwich. They call it Gay Street. Is anyone familiar with...
Steel Street
Steel(Ing) The Future : Day 2
Day 2: The start of the technical session on Friday saw Mr D C Garg, CMD, Western Coalfields Limited and Dr Bristow chairing the session. Terming Global Steel as an ‘Opportunity in Crisis,’ Mr Peter Marcus, Founder and Managing Partner, World Steel Dynamics, USA, said “China today is much more capitalistic than the USA. Steel consumption by China last year was 573 MT as compared to 60 MT in the USA. The per capita steel consumption in China is .426 as compared to the USA’s .215. These statistics speak for themselves as to where China stands today in the world steel industry.” In his address on ‘Volatility in Global Steel Markets, Implications for Funding Future Growth’, Dr Rod Beddows, CEO, Hatch Corporate Finance, UK said in the coming 40 years, steel would be much in demand as the developing countries would be targeting the same standards of living as those in the developed nations. The other speakers included Mr John Kearsey, Executive Director, SSY Consultancy & Research Ltd, UK, Ms Vicky Binns, Head of Commodity Analysis, BHP Billiton, Singapore, Mr Jim Lennon, ED-Commodities Research, Macquarie Capital (Europe) Ltd UK and Dr Amit Chatterjee, Advisor, Tata Steel Ltd. In his address on ‘Challenges & opportunities before the Indian steel industry in the changed global economic scenario’, Dr Chatterjee mentioned how the country today is in dire need of metallurgists and engineers since the young tend to be lured more by the IT sector. “It is indeed a point of worry that the main brains in the country are not opting for the knowledge areas such as engineering or metallurgy which need specialization and expertise. These young brains will actually take forward the Indian industry,” said Mr Manoj Modi, Country Director, Coeclerici Asia. The day’s next session saw deliberations on ‘Sharing best practices - improving operational efficiency in steel industry’. D R Dogra, MD & CEO, CARE, termed the outlook of growth in the steel sector as stable while focusing on some of the key rating issues. Sandeep Biswas, managing partner, ROG, Accenture, highlighted some of the lessons learnt over time like the need for mission co-locating centres, learning from past mistakes and focus on institutionalization, selection of contractors and work force who have the capacity to deliver etc. The session also saw an address by Tim Wojtowics, VP, SunCoke Energy, USA. Giving his views on the Global Steel 2010, Mr Partho Sen, Development Manager (Eastern India), Austrade, said, “The conference has been an invigorating exercise for India to have closer ties and better trade prospects with a number of countries and we are very happy to have learnt what the industry feels could be a better road ahead for the global steel industry.” Later in the day, a panel discussion on global steel industry with reference to India saw, once again, a focus on China. Session Chairmen, Mr Gerard McCloskey, Founder and Chairman, McCloskey Group and Mr Jagatramka shared their thoughts with Mr Bill Graybeal, CEO, Coeclerici Asia (Pte) Ltd and Dr J J Irani of Tata Sons. “ The future of steel is in India. But when one compares China with India, we find that China today produces 600 MT while India hopefully should touch the 60 MT mark this year. At the end of 2009, China made as much steel as the rest of the world put together. But still the we can say the future of steel is in India,” said Dr Irani on a positive note. Giving three fundamental reasons that support his optimism, the former Tata Steel MD said India is hungry for steel and the markets are growing. “While prices are tempered by worldwide overcapacity, Indian markets are inexhaustible. The potential to export is good, but there’s competition. So our outlook should not be the international market but the domestic markets,” he said. It is possible for India to achieve 100 MT by 2015, he added on an upbeat India outlook. Panelists, Mr Dilip Oommen, CEO, India Operations, Essar Steel Ltd, Mr Naveen Vohra, Managing Partner, Ernst & Young and Mr Gueorgui Pirinski, Global Steel Analyst, BHP Billiton, spoke about their respective companies. The concluding session saw enriching thoughts by Mr Peter Linford, Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner, Austrade, who identified the areas where India and Australia could engage in trade as well other cultural and educational initiatives. Dr Nikki Williams, CEO, NSW Minerals Council and a PhD on terrorism, spoke on the growth of the NSW coal industry while focusing on the opportunities in India. Mr Rod Solomons, Govt of Queensland, Australia and Mr P S Grewal, CEO India, Micromine Pty Ltd, also spoke on the occasion. The evening of Day 2 was what one and all were waiting for. A fashion show that highlighted the ‘making of steel’ saw beautiful models display costumes by designer Monty Sally. Guests savored on Calcutta chaat, gol gappas, chana baturas and keema paus. Belly dancing, samba and street jazz kept the crowd applauding and wanting for more. For more detail on India Business News log on to http://www.bizxchange.in/
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