India has initiated an anti-subsidy probe into alleged increased imports of select copper wire rods from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that led to complaints from domestic players that include Hindalco Industries and Vedanta Industries.

A story in Economic Times said that the commerce ministry’s investigating arm, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), has stated that production and exports of continuous cast copper wire rods in these four countries appear to be subsidized. That activity has caused material injury to the domestic industry through their volume and price effects, it said. The authority’s investigation will cover 12 months over 2017-18 as well as data from 2014-17.

The directorate will determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged subsidization. If found necessary, the office will recommend the appropriate amount of countervailing or anti-subsidy duties needed to protect the domestic industry.

In the application filed with the office by Hindalco Industries and Vedanta Industries (Sterlite Copper) on behalf of domestic industry, they claimed that the producers/exporters of the goods in these countries have benefited from the "actionable subsidies" provided at various levels by the governments of these countries, including their different provinces and municipalities, and asked for remedies.

India has already imposed countervailing and anti-dumping duties on various kinds of steel from China.

JSW Steel Limited has signed a contract with Primetals Technologies for a two-strand wire rod mill to be located in Toranagallu, India.

A press release said that Primetals Technologies will supply the complete wire rod mill. That includes all mechanical and electrical equipment for two-strand production from a single-stand roughing mill. Two independent rolling lines will then join at the coil-handling area for further compacting and unloading. Among other Morgan-branded equipment, the mill will include a new design of individually driven pre-finishing mill that eliminates the need for uploopers, a faster cooling nozzle clamping and unclamping method for shorter change
times, the latest generation 6 Morgan high-speed laying head with SR Series pipe technology, and a recently patented stepless reform design.

The contract also includes site supervision and spare parts, the release said. Designed for a guaranteed maximum speed of 115 m per second, the mill will run at 220 tons per hour for an annual capacity of 1.2 mmt. Start-up is scheduled for the end of 2019.

The release said that this represents the third such purchase by JSW Steel from Primetals Technologies, which previously installed a single-strand wire rod mill and a bar mill.
Part of the JSW Group, JSW Steel was founded in 1994 and exports to more than 100 countries on five continents. At its website, JSW notes, “We are India’s largest steel exporter and ship to over a hundred companies across five continents. And we are just warming up.”

TE Connectivity reports that it will sell its subsea communications business (SubCom) to equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for $325 million in cash.

A press release said that SubCom has completed more than 100 cable systems and deployed over 610,000 km of cable through its eight cable ships. The deal, which includes the plant, 63 employees, and all the related process, development and sales elements, is expected to close by the first quarter of 2019.

TE Connectivity, which has an annual revenue of $13 billion from connectivity business, reports that it will use proceeds from the sale to fund share repurchases. “It strengthens our business model; resulting in a stronger growth profile, reduced cyclicality, higher margins and a greater return on investment,” said TE Connectivity CEO Terrence Curtin.

In other news, SubCom reports that it has won a contract from MainOne, a global connectivity and data center solutions provider, to extend its submarine cable system into West Africa’s francophone region. Its additional branches connecting Senegal (Dakar) and Cote D’Ivoire (Abidjan) will connect to MainOne’s 7,000-km cable system, which extends from Portugal to Nigeria, and will inject new technology that upgrades the system to a potential capacity of 10TBps by November 2019 when the subsea system becomes operational. 

Germany’s SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH reports that it has installed and commissioned two lines that have been approved by the customer, Hengtong Submarine Power Cable Co., Ltd. (Hengtong)

A press release said that SKET supplied a vertical stranding line and an armoring line, where were signed off by Manager Qian Zhikang and Production Manager Pan Wenlin for production of high-voltage offshore power cable (220kV, 3x500 mm², XLPE insulated) that could be as long as 27 km.

The project was able to be completed in less than two years because of the mutual efforts and cooperation between the Hengtong and SKET staff, the release said. SKET provided its unique technology for the units that included the bearing concept turntable, taping units, bitumen units, for its intended use in producing extra-long power cables. SKET also supplied a rigid strander for making 500-sq-mm copper conductors for use in extraordinary lengths

The release said that the order from Hengtong represents SKET’s first project from a Chinese cable manufacturer. "This project can be seen as a milestone of SKET’s activities in Asia."

The HV offshore power cable is a key markets for cable manufacturers in China. For Hengtong, this will be its first time producing such a long offshore power cable without any joints, which makes this order "a big success for all parties in this project."