SURAT: Essar Steel has booked export orders at $305per metic tonne (PMT) and if this trend continues, it willhave a significant impact on Essar Steel's financial performance,said company chairman S N Ruia at the 23rd annual general meetingof the company held here today.Ruia said that when Essar Steel plant was commissioned, steelprices globally touched an all-time low of 180 dollars PMT. ''thedumping of steel by Russia and other countries further complicatedthe domestic steel industry's problems. This was largely due to thegovernment's inability to intervene well in time to enforce anti-dumping measures,'' he opined.
Massive financial re-structuring and technical upgradation coupledwith introduction of steel-branding for the first time in thecountry is bound to increase the shareholders' value over a periodof time, he said.
He said that metal bulletin of the leading international referencesuggests that the price of steel has bottomed out and is expectedto touch $ 450 per metric tonne by the end of next year. UNI report.