Stainless Steel Me

Concerns are mounting about stainless steel exports from India and this is causing major problems due to contamination with uranium. Throughout Europe all end users are approaching suppliers to check if material has been sourced through India. In reality only one company has been singled out by German authorities but this is giving all suppliers a potential bad name, see detailed report below from Business Line:-

BL reported that steel scrap has come to limelight following the recent incident of a Mumbai based steelmaker’s consignment of stainless steel bars being detected with radioactive contamination.

The secondary steelmakers are facing the heat after the Mumbai based Vipras Castings was singled out by the German authorities for exporting steel contaminated with radioactive material. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board after inspecting the company premises had segregated products and raw material contaminated with radioactive material for safe disposal.

Overseas clients of major players here have reportedly sought in-depth details on the material procurement and processing methodology, besides the precautions taken to ensure that contaminated steel does not land up at their doorstep.

The US leads the list of countries that export the scrap followed by European countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, Italy and Belgium. The scrap is imported by secondary steelmakers who possess full fledged facilities as also by others who own part facilities such furnaces, rolling mills or finishing shops. And, those with part facilities outsource the job and export the finished product.

The majors of the segment such as specialty steel manufacturer Mukand Ltd, while importing ensure that the scrap is certified by agencies such as SGS, Societe Generale de Surveillance, an international agency specialized in testing, verification and inspection of industrial products.

Mr AM Kulkarni chief of Business Strategy, Mukand said that while details of the total quantity of scrap imported by India is unavailable, it could be about 40,000 tonne a month, given that 50% to 60% the 300 series scrap alone is imported.

Mr Kulkarni, who is also a founder member of the Stainless Steel Developers Association of India said that all their members had taken pre emptive steps and communicated to their clients of their import certification and the process checks they had in place.

Industry sources, while conceding that one of the members was in the dock, alleged a well orchestrated campaign was on to block Indian exports as major European stainless steelmakers were reeling under the impact of recession.