CURRENT TRENDS OF TATA STEEL Steel Industry Trends are not at all static in this industry and is a very

dynamic. The country that is producing the maximum amount of steel may not be in the first position in the coming years. Analysis of the Steel Industry Trends show that from the period starting from 1910 till the year 1960, the first position in terms of producing the largest amount of steel in the whole world was captured by United States Of America. During this period it was observed that almost half of the total steel production around the globe was produced by USA. But the scenario started to change after the countries like Japan and China came to the fore. Again, in the recent years, India as well as Brazil has shown tremendous performance in the steel production side. According to the recent Steel Industry Trends, China is the largest steel producing nation. But it has also been seen that the production of quality steel in China is very low. Thus, they have to import large quantities of the same from the foreign countries, especially Brazil. The rising of India as a key player in the world steel industry scenario is also evident from Steel Industry Trends. Very recently, the Indian Steel company called TATA Steel has acquired the fifth largest steel company of the world called Corus and consequently came up from 65th to 5th position. Merger and acquisition is becoming the Steel Industry Trends in the recent times. The biggest M&A venture that took place recently was the one where the Rotterdam (Netherlands) based steel company called Mittal Steels bought the erstwhile steel giant Arcelor. This acquisition has led to the formation of the largest steel company of the recent times called Arcelor-Mittal Steel company. Steel Industry Trends also show that a downsizing in the steel industry is a common phenomenon all round the globe. This phenomenon has arisen due to the fact that this industry has shifted from its earlier stance of being a labor intensive one to a capital intensive one. The recent trend of M&A has enhanced its pace. Steel Industry Trends in case of prices have also shown high rate of growth and the main factor acting behind it is excess demand for steel generated by the construction, automobile and infrastructure industries. This increase in the price of steel can be observed along all the categories. The different categories of steel are Hot as well as Cold Rolled Coil of steel, Hot rolled

plate of steel and rod made up of steel wire. The price of medium steel type has increased from US $ 666 to US $ 815 between May 2006 and May 2000.