29 Apr 12 No proposal to impose complete ban on chrome ore export
India’s minister of mines (independent charge) Mr Dinsha J Patel informed Lok Sabha in a written reply that there is no proposal by the ministry of mines to impose complete ban on export of chrome ore.
He further informed that India has 203 million tonnes of total resources out of which there is only 54 million tonnes are reserves and 149 million tonnes are remaining resources. At present India’s production is sufficient to meet domestic consumption as well as export. Therefore, presently export of chrome ore is not directly impacting the steel industry.
Replying to written question, the minister said that the present production of chromite is sufficient to meet domestic consumption as well as export requirements. As per available information, export of chrome ore is guided by Exim Policy of the country.
Source – Press Information Bureau
Article source: http://www.steelguru.com/stainless_steel_news/No_proposal_to_impose_complete_ban_on_chrome_ore_export/261360.html
Tags: Exim Policy, India, Lok Sabha
28 Apr 12 No plan to ban chrome exports for now: Minister
The Centre has no plan to impose complete ban on export of chrome for now ore as the present production of the steel raw material is sufficient to meet domestic consumption as well as export requirements, the Lok Sabha was informed Friday. Replying to written question, Minister of Mines (Independent Charge) Dinsha J. Patel said that there is no proposal by the Ministry of Mines to impose complete ban on export of chrome ore. He informed that India has 203 million tonnes of total resources out of which there is only 54 million tonnes are reserves and 149 million tonnes are remaining resources. At present India’s production is sufficient to meet domestic consumption as well as export. Therefore, presently export of chrome ore is not directly impacting the steel industry, Patel added. Chrome or chromium is an important alloying material for steel. Stainless steel is formed when chromium is added to iron. High speed tool steels also contain chromium. Replying to another question in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that prices of iron ore in the country has shown an increase in the last three years. He said that the mining sector, including mining and trade in iron ore, has been liberalized since the year 1993 and prices of iron ore is driven by global market demand and the government does not administer the prices of iron ore in the country.
SME Times News Bureau | 28 Apr, 2012
Article source: http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/news/top-stories/2012/Apr/28/govt-has-no-plans-ban-chrome-exports-minister71633.html
07 Apr 12 China to cut SA chrome imports
Articles
Domestic Chinese ferrochrome costs about half of that of imports from SA, where production is being squeezed by soaring electricity prices and by uncertainty over Eskom’s ability to deliver uninterrupted power.
China is busy adding domestic ferrochrome capacity, with 1.76million tons of new annual capacity coming on stream between 2012 and 2015. To put that in perspective, China imported 409316t of ferrochrome in last year’s fourth quarter, of which 271706t was South African. By the middle of this decade, new Chinese capacity is likely to lead to a global oversupply even if the South Africans close more furnaces.
Executives of existing or would-be South African ferrochrome producers – Merafe CEO Stuart Elliot and Ruukki director Danko Konchar among them – have reacted to the Chinese competition by calling on Pretoria to tax chrome ore exports. At a March conference in Hong Kong, Konchar urged Pretoria to impose an export tax of $100/t. At that time ore prices were only fractionally over $200/t landed at Chinese ports. Higher, taxed ore export prices could, the idea was, tip the competitive balance in SA ferrochrome producers’ favour. SA ore exporters, who sit on four-fifths of the global chrome resource, might demur over interference in their trade.
Should Chinese ferrochrome makers object to SA ore prices they could turn to Zimbabwe, Turkey, India or Kazakhstan. That’s despite the fact that Zimbabwe is continuing to restrict ore exports, that Kazakhstan continues to push for its domestic ore to be smelted at home and that India is adding export quotas to its existing 30% ad valorem export tax. China itself was holding substantial stocks of ore at the end of 2011 and is expected to draw on them rather than pay higher import prices. There’s enough chrome in the ground worldwide to satisfy demand for several centuries.
In a new report, Johannesburg-based Core Consultants says SA ferrochrome producers cut output by 15% in this year’s first quarter. Producers continue to struggle with Eskom’s power buy-backs, which have curbed electricity availability. The upshot, says Core, was that SA’s ferrochrome producers only operated at 55% capacity in this year’s first quarter, though there are upper-end suggestions of a rise to 65% in the second quarter.
Smelters continue to be closed or converted to ferromanganese production. Back in 2001, SA produced 50% of the world’s ferrochrome. By 2010 the share was down to 42% and falling.
Global output of ferrochrome totalled 2.072 million tons in this year’s first quarter with a small supply:demand deficit. An expected return to surplus this quarter should contribute to some price stodginess. Near-term demand for stainless steel and, by extension of ferrochrome, is hardly positive.
Europe’s demand for ferrochrome for current steel production is likely to require a protracted convalescence, though steelmakers appear to be replenishing alloy stocks, as are US steelmakers. China appears set to draw down its stainless stocks before raising production.
In the EU, this year’s first-quarter high-carbon ferrochrome contract benchmark prices fell by some 4% quarter-on-quarter to $1.15/lb but are expected to advance to $1.25 or more in the second quarter. In the US, spot prices of between $1.17-$1.21/lb were 12% higher quarter on quarter. In contrast, first-quarter low-carbon prices declined generally across the globe, falling from $2.18-2.28/lb early in January to $2.07-2.12/lb in early March. SA largely produces the high-carbon product.
High-carbon ferrochrome producers are being squeezed by rising input costs. For the longer term, Core estimates that rising costs will force producers to lift prices to $1.32-$1.35/lb by 2016 if they are to remain profitable. Ore may be cheap, but the SA smelters that are crucial to the country’s beneficiation hopes will be closely watching Eskom’s electricity prices and supply.
Article source: http://www.businesslive.co.za/world/int_markets/2012/04/07/china-to-cut-sa-chrome-imports
Tags: China, India, SA, South African, US
03 Apr 12 Google Chrome Loses Market Share to Internet Explorer
In our latest installment of the browser wars, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) has started to regain its share of the browser market at the expense of rival browsers, particularly Mozilla’s Firefox and Google Chrome.
IE has made a comeback this year, increasing its market share by 2 percent from December 2011 to March 2012 to 53.83 percent, according to the data from Net Applications. This follows a period of decreasing popularity between May and December last year for the browser, during which it lost more than 5 percent of its users.
Firefox usage has generally declined since May 2011 to this March, falling roughly 2 percent to 20.55 percent of the market.
Meanwhile, Google Chrome increased its user base between May and December last year by nearly 6 percent, but in recent months it has been losing users. Chrome now sits at 18.57 percent of the market.
Apple’s Safari browser had slowly increased its market share since May last year to as high as 5.24 percent, although it appeared to take a popularity hit in December and January and has now fallen to 5.07 percent in March.
While the figures are good news for Microsoft, the firm is still under threat in the market with Chrome passing IE usage on a single day during March, for the first time in its history, according to StatCounter.
The company’s research showed that the spike was largely due to heavy usage in India, Russia, and Brazil, indicating a wider trend of increased Chrome usage over weekends. The phenomenon was taken by analysts as a sign that consumers commonly use IE for work purposes during the week and Chrome for home browsing.
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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2165521/Google-Chrome-Loses-Market-Share-to-Internet-Explorer
Tags: Brazil, Google Chrome, IE, India, Internet Explorer, Russia
23 Mar 12 Chrome crowned browser king for a day
Chrome was last Sunday the most-used browser in the world, according to the website analytics firm StatCounter.
Google’s browser briefly overtook Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for the first time on that day, although IE is now back in the lead. StatCounter said Chrome’s one-day triumph was a “milestone”, and pointed out that people tend to use Chrome more on the weekends, when they are away from work, and IE more while in the workplace.
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StatCounter analyses a network of more than three million sites to provide statistics relating to the browsers people are using, as well as operating systems and other factors such as screen resolution. On Wednesday, the company said a surge of Chrome use in India, Russia and Brazil on the weekend had briefly made the browser the most widely-used in the world.
“While it is only one day, this is a milestone,” StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said in a statement. “Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable. At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE.”
On the Sunday, Chrome had a 32.71-percent share of global browser usage, just above Internet Explorer’s 32.5 percent. However, the shares normalised after that, and Chrome is currently on 30.41 percent to IE’s 35.29 percent.
Mozilla’s Firefox, which was until last December in second place ahead of Chrome, is now in third place with a 25.05-percent share, StatCounter’s latest figures show.
Tags: IE, India, Russia, Whether Chrome
26 Jan 12 Naveen demands total ban on chrome ore
PTI | 08:01 PM,Jan 25,2012
Bhubaneswar, Jan 25 (PTI) Apprehending that the country’s
chromite reserves might not last for more than
20 years, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has demanded a
complete ban on export of chrome ore with immediate effect.
Expressing concern over rapid depletion of chromite
reserve, Patnaik said only an estimated 66
million tonne of chromite was reserved in the country of which
95 per cent had been located in the state.
“I am of the opinion that in order to provide raw
material security to the end-user industries in the country, a
total ban on export of chromite should be imposed
immediately,” Patnaik said in a letter to Dinsha J Patel,
Union Minister of State for Mines.
Despite the low reserves,
export of the mineral is allowed. At least 1.9 million tonne
was
exported in 2008-09. Over 75 per cent of the chromite was
being exported to China,” he said.
India has only 1 per cent of world’s chrome reserve,
Patnaik said, adding that the lesson should be learnt from
Zimbabwe
which has around 10 per cent of the world’s total deposit.
“Zimbabwe as part of its strategic measure to conserve its
finite resources, has also imposed a ban on chrome ore export
from April, 2011,” the chief minister said.
Stating that the state attracted huge investment in
steel and ferro chrome sectors, Patnaik said these industries
require chromite as an input. Chrome ore is used in making
ferrochrome, which is further used in manufacture of stainless
steel.
Stainless steel has considerable demand in the
construction sector and particularly required for expansion
of automobile industry, which uses the non-corrosive material
for external body surfaces.
“I am given to understand that the Union Ministry of
Steel has also demanded a ban on export of chrome ore,” the
chief minister said.
Article source: http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/naveen-demands-total-ban-on-chrome-ore/955753.html
06 Dec 11 ibibo Games now on Google Chrome Web-store India
According to Google, they are happy to be part of this effort to bring games to chrome users in India and worldwide.
Log on to
Also Log onto Flame Knowledge Centre
Article source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/ibibo-Games-now-on-Google-Chrome-Web-store-India/5303991770
Tags: India
25 Nov 11 Google may take time to roll out chrome in India
Google is yet to take any call on rolling out Google Chrome operating system and notebook in India. Google India director Vinay Goel said that the company is focusing on the US and the UK markets and it’s a learning experience for them. “We will decide on their India launch on the basis of this learning and at an appropriate time. Right now there is no such thinking,” said Goel.
Goel who was here to flag off the Google internet bus’s journey across West Bengal, said that the street view project of Google will be resumed after it receives some regulatory clearances from the government.
Google street view, a technology featured in Google maps and google earth was supposed to revolutionise the way we approach maps in the country. This hit a roadblock in June with the Bangalore police objecting to the collection of data by Google’s cars, which were crisscrossing Bangalore city taking high definition images to give users 360 degree views of streets
Google recently terminated some of the products and services including Google Knol (Google’s version of Wikipedia), Google Gears (that allowed web applications to be used offline) and Google Wave. Goel said, “When we withdraw or terminate some products that does not mean we are terminating it forever. We are continuously experimenting and constantly taking customers feedbacks. Maybe, they will come back with improved, upgraded, refined features in some other forms.”
At present nearly 37 per cent of the estimated 82 million internet users in the country are from smaller towns. “We have also found that some 30 per cent of the internet bus users have already begun using internet. We hope this trend will continue,” Goel said.
Article source: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/google-may-take-time-roll-out-chrome-india-880
Tags: Google Gears, Google Knol Google, Google Wave, India
16 Nov 11 Soon you can order Chromebook in India
Internet giant Google’s Chromebook, the much-celebrated mobile device tailor-made for Web browsing and running on its Chrome Operating System, is likely to be shipped in India by early 2012.
Speaking to presspersons at an interaction here, Sundar Pichai, senior vice-president, Chrome and Apps, Google, said: “I would be very surprised if Chromebooks are not shipped in India by early 2012. We see India as a huge potential market for us,” he said. Chrome, he pointed out, is very popular on laptops, where 98 per cent of the time is spent browsing, and, hence, he believes it was natural for them to take the next step: build an OS to bring the full power of the Web to users in a fast, simple and more secure package. In October 2011, Chrome overtook Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in India.
Chromebook first began shipping globally in June with the devices being manufactured by Acer and Samsung.
Mr. Pichai, who leads the product management and innovation efforts for Google’s consumer products including Chrome, Chrome OS, Gmail and Google Docs, says the user experience is key.
He added that over time there will be more hardware partners.
Google’s flop
On Google Plus, and the company’s failed foray into the social media space with Buzz, Mr. Pichai said that it was “all part of the journey”. “We understood more about privacy and related implications through Google Buzz,” he said, pointing out that features on Plus such as ‘hangouts’ and ‘circles’ were products of this understanding. “Yes, there would not have been a Google Plus without Google Buzz.”
Google has around 2,000 employees working in India in offices in Hyderabad and Bangalore, with sales and marketing teams in Gurgaon and Mumbai. Mr. Pichai said the teams here were extremely talented and focussed on innovation, with a lot of technologists working keenly on the application feature suite here.
e-commerce market
Besides Google’s Chrome and Chromebook, Mr. Pichai said that there is a huge e-commerce market in India that remains to be tapped.
“I found that online transactions are cumbersome and not at all easy,” he said, comparing this to the “seamless, easy” experience abroad, and the even smoother experience he had with Google Wallet while making simple grocery payments in the United States. A product like Google Wallet can take online money and transactions here to a different level, he added.
Keywords: Google Chrome
Article source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article2632277.ece
Tags: Google Buzz, Google Wallet, India, Sundar Pichai
16 Nov 11 Soon you can order Chromebook in India
Internet giant Google’s Chromebook, the much-celebrated mobile device tailor-made for Web browsing and running on its Chrome Operating System, is likely to be shipped in India by early 2012.
Speaking to presspersons at an interaction here, Sundar Pichai, senior vice-president, Chrome and Apps, Google, said: “I would be very surprised if Chromebooks are not shipped in India by early 2012. We see India as a huge potential market for us,” he said. Chrome, he pointed out, is very popular on laptops, where 98 per cent of the time is spent browsing, and, hence, he believes it was natural for them to take the next step: build an OS to bring the full power of the Web to users in a fast, simple and more secure package. In October 2011, Chrome overtook Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in India.
Chromebook first began shipping globally in June with the devices being manufactured by Acer and Samsung.
Mr. Pichai, who leads the product management and innovation efforts for Google’s consumer products including Chrome, Chrome OS, Gmail and Google Docs, says the user experience is key.
He added that over time there will be more hardware partners.
Google’s flop
On Google Plus, and the company’s failed foray into the social media space with Buzz, Mr. Pichai said that it was “all part of the journey”. “We understood more about privacy and related implications through Google Buzz,” he said, pointing out that features on Plus such as ‘hangouts’ and ‘circles’ were products of this understanding. “Yes, there would not have been a Google Plus without Google Buzz.”
Google has around 2,000 employees working in India in offices in Hyderabad and Bangalore, with sales and marketing teams in Gurgaon and Mumbai. Mr. Pichai said the teams here were extremely talented and focussed on innovation, with a lot of technologists working keenly on the application feature suite here.
e-commerce market
Besides Google’s Chrome and Chromebook, Mr. Pichai said that there is a huge e-commerce market in India that remains to be tapped.
“I found that online transactions are cumbersome and not at all easy,” he said, comparing this to the “seamless, easy” experience abroad, and the even smoother experience he had with Google Wallet while making simple grocery payments in the United States. A product like Google Wallet can take online money and transactions here to a different level, he added.
Keywords: Google Chrome
Article source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article2632277.ece
Tags: Google Buzz, Google Wallet, India, Sundar Pichai
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