Since 2002, they have also had an alliance in the semi-finished steel products business.

The rest of its semi-finished steel was shipped to other facilities for finishing.

It has provided an outlet for approximately 200,000 tons of semi-finished steel annually.

It manufactures steel rod and wire from semi-finished steel.

These are semi-finished steel products which must undergo further processing to make finished steel products.

Tubular income climbed to $420 million from $74 million on higher prices, partially offset by increased costs for semi-finished steel.

Iran is one of the world's biggest importers of billet, or semi-finished steel bars, used in construction.

Raw steel production and purchased semi-finished steel processed in 1997 totalled 4.621 million net tons.

The rest of its semi-finished steel material was sent to Joliet Works, Chicago and Gary.

It primary produces flat steel products, semi-finished steel products and electrical steels.

The government also plans to tighten imports of semi-finished steel products to prevent an influx of imports, Bukhari said, without giving details.

It would not involve the dozens of newer "mini-mills" - companies like Nucor that take slabs of semi-finished steel and turn them into finished products.

Shipments and prices for the tubular steel segment are expected to remain in line with the fourth quarter, and semi-finished steel costs will increase, he said.

Mild steel is semi-finished steel used to make long steel products, which are then used mainly in construction of buildings, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Sales of semi-finished steel products abroad rose 9 percent because of a rise in installed capacity, the IBS said without providing export figures.

China raised export taxes on semi-finished steel products and some other steel products in an effort to cool investment in the steel sector starting from January.

Semi-finished steel products were forwarded from Scunthorpe to British Steel plants at locations such as Lackenby and Wolverhampton.

Products made at Sparrows Point include hot-rolled sheet, cold-rolled sheet, galvanized sheet, Galvalume, tin mill products and semi-finished steel.

"We expect second-quarter Tubular results to improve over the first quarter as higher prices and shipments are partially offset by further increases in costs, principally for semi-finished steel," he said.

Earlier this year, Krakatau Steel said it planned to invest $400 million in 2008 to expand its steel-processing facilities so that it could reduce imports of semi-finished steel products.

In the wide flange mill, the semi-finished steel is hot-rolled through a series of contoured rolls that progressively elongate and shape the steel to the required dimensional tolerances.

The Nikkei said the plant would turn out semi-finished steel products, as well as steel sheet and other finished products, from around 2015, although a feasibility study and talks with Indian authorities have not yet started.

The increase was inevitable as import prices of slab jumped to $1,200 per tonne, while we have delayed product price increases,' said Dongkuk, which imports semi-finished steel product slab mainly from Brazil to make ship plates. '

And Tata Steel, which sold Teesside Cast Products to SSI of Thailand, is investing £400m in its long products business over five years to 2016, to move it into higher-margin products of semi-finished steel.

China's exports of steel billet are down 81 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the year before, reflecting the increase in the export tax on semi-finished steel to 25 percent from 15, effective Jan 1, 2008.