Coking Coal Costs To Go Down In Ongoing Quarter, Says JSW Steel | NDTV Profit - video Dailymotion

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00:00We caught up with the joint MD and CEO of GSW Steel, Jayant Acharya, to talk about their

00:06second quarter results, which was impacted due to the pressure of lower steel prices.

00:11Quarter 2 was a challenging quarter.

00:16As you said rightly, the international prices were weaker and that resulted into domestic

00:21prices also reflecting the same.

00:23We were able to manage that through offsetting costs and that by and large gave us a similar

00:31EBITDA to what we had for the quarter 1 as well.

00:34The Indian operations did quite well.

00:36I think the Indian production was the highest ever, the domestic sales was the highest ever.

00:43The EBITDA was actually a little better for Indian operations than the quarter 1.

00:48Our international overseas subsidiaries had their challenges with respect to the pricing

00:52environment as well as a shutdown which was there in Ohio for a maintenance.

00:58But I think on the exceptional item which you asked, this is with relation to a mine

01:04in Orissa, which is the Jajang iron ore mine, which we decided to surrender because it was

01:09becoming uneconomical to use this low grade which is left in the mine.

01:14And that is why we decided to surrender that.

01:17And we have taken a provision to that extent in our books for a while.

01:21And what will be the implications of the closure of the said iron ore mine?

01:25It will be positive because this particular mine was of a very low grade which was not

01:34economically viable to use because the specifications did not result in a cost advantage.

01:40So therefore we decided to surrender it.

01:41We have other mines which are able to provide a better quality which is required by us.

01:47So therefore, surrendering this mine won't have a negative impact.

01:51Actually, it will have a positive impact because the quality of the alternate material will be better.

01:56EBITDA and realizations per tonne have also taken a hit.

01:59What's the outlook on pricing for the rest of the financial year?

02:02So China basically has been a key player in the international market as you are aware.

02:09China exports have increased by about 20% plus in the first nine months.

02:14However, the China stimulus announcement has been positive.

02:18That has been taken well by the market at large.

02:21Not only the stock market but I think the commodity markets also reacted positively to it.

02:26Steel prices also reflected an improvement.

02:29We saw a similar improvement in India.

02:31The prices in the month of October went up after bottoming out in September.

02:37H2 being a seasonally stronger half, we expect that the pricing environment will be better.

02:43We see from a cost positioning point of view, our coking coal costs are going down.

02:48Last quarter, our coking coal cost went down by about $27.

02:52We expect in this coming quarter also the coking coal cost to go down by $20 to $25.

02:59One is the international prices went down and the other one is that we

03:03changed our blend and sourcing to make it more sustainable.

03:07So therefore, we are benefiting on the cost.

03:09We expect slightly improved prices.

03:12We have increased the prices by about 1000 to 2000 rupees in the month of October

03:17on different products.

03:18So we expect that to sustain on a seasonally strong quarter ahead.

03:22And if you could give maybe a range that you see EBITDA per ton stabilizing at?

03:27I would not like to comment on EBITDA per ton or on EBITDA spread specifically.

03:32But let me put it this way that we have new capacities which are coming on stream.

03:38JVML Blasphemous has been commissioned.

03:40The SMS is under commissioning.

03:42We have seen the BSL capacities getting completed.

03:45So in the second half, our volumes will be much higher.

03:48Therefore, our guidance of sales and production, whatever we have given, we stand by that.

03:53So increase in volume will result in increase in absolute EBITDA

03:57and that will improve the overall profitability of the company.

04:00It will be difficult to comment on the spread at this point.

04:04Let's now talk about demand in terms of customer-wise segment demand.

04:07What's working?

04:08Has there been any impact in the recent slowdown in the auto segment?

04:11Well, as a matter of fact, our sales to automotive went up.

04:16We actually had in H1, we have the highest ever automotive sales.

04:23There are different reasons for it.

04:24But first of all, just to reflect back on the demand last half,

04:30the Indian demand first grew by 13.5%, which was a very good growth

04:34in spite of the fact that we had elections and a monsoon disruption in between.

04:39The automotive sector has seen some impact with respect to the growth, as you rightly said.

04:45But because of various approvals, because the auto typically takes time

04:49to approve a particular steel product.

04:51So therefore, from a penetration point of view, I think we had a good sale.

04:56We see infrastructure CAPEX picking up in the second half of this year.

05:01That will drive steel demand.

05:04We also see a better monsoon resulting into better rural recovery.

05:07We have already seen two wheelers going up, appliances going up.

05:11The third piece is the energy transition.

05:12We are seeing more demand coming in from solar and wind,

05:15which we are ourselves also adding in capacity to turn to more of green,

05:20let's say, and reduce our emissions.

05:21So the demand on the energy sector is also going up.

05:25Overall, I think we are quite positive for the second half.

05:29Increased volume from our side will help meet the demand.

05:32And I think that will improve the general EBITDA for the company as well.

05:36Export sales is also something that was significantly impacted with a 43% drop.

05:41Could you maybe give us some understanding

05:43into the current difference between Chinese and Indian steel prices?

05:46And how could this shape up going forward?

05:48So in quarter two, yes, the international prices,

05:52specifically from China and FTA countries, zero duty impacted us.

05:57We have seen an increase in international prices after the China stimulus.

06:02So I think we are seeing a situation where probably international prices from

06:08China and domestic prices are near parity.

06:13I think we will see some moderation in the winter months from China.

06:17Their production has already moderated in the month of August and September

06:22to about 77-78 million tons.

06:25Hopefully, that will result into lower exports out of China.

06:28But that's a hope. We'll see how time goes.

06:31But I think on a pricing environment, because most of the steel makers have narrow margins,

06:39my sense is that the pricing has bottomed out and will improve.

06:43We have seen that in India as well, where prices in October have improved.

06:47And that should be positive in a seasonally strong quarters, which we see ahead.

06:51The company has also lowered its FY25 capex to around 16,000 to 17,000 crores.

06:57Why was this revision made? And why has the BF3 expansion been rescheduled to next year?

07:02Yeah, so specifically on the capex, we have planned about 20,000 crores.

07:06You're right, we have recalibrated a bit for 16,000 to 17,000 crores,

07:12primarily on account of two reasons.

07:14One, we are the slurry pipeline project, we are transferring to

07:20GSW Infra at arm's length pricing, and that would give us a reduced capex,

07:26because that would be now spent by the infrastructure company.

07:29And the BF3, where we have postponed the modification,

07:34that also releases some capex in this financial year.

07:38That's why these are two main reasons why the capex has been recalibrated.

07:41None of the critical projects have been impacted.

07:45However, if I look at why the BF3 we have to reschedule,

07:51that is primarily because the JBL blast furnace got delayed,

07:55and the commissioning has just happened.

07:57The ramp-up will happen in Q4.

07:59So after the ramp-up is stabilized, we will take the shutdown of the BF3 after April.

08:05So that's the reason for the change, nothing else.

08:08And that has also caused recalibration on the capex.

08:12Got it, Mr. Acharya.

08:13Q2 also saw a 6% quarter-on-quarter increase in debt to over Rs 85,000 crores.

08:19Why was this uptick there?

08:20And what levels could debt remain in FY25-N?

08:24So debt uptick, as I said, we have spent about Rs 7,850 crores of capex.

08:31We had a tough H1 from international perspective.

08:35So one was the capex.

08:36The second one was investments in a cooking coal mine, which we have done.

08:39So we have done an investment in the Lahora cooking coal mine.

08:42We have spent $120 million on that to have a 20% look-through interest.

08:48And the third reason was that working capital basically has increased,

08:54primarily on account of some inventories which have got increased on lower exports.

08:58Also, new inventories for the upcoming capacities which are coming on stream.

09:05As we go into the year, we will be releasing some of these working capital.

09:09Increase in EBITDA from additional volumes will help us de-leverage as well.

09:13So those should improve the debt positioning.

09:17And we expect the debt in absolute terms to go down as we enter the financial year.

09:21The company has also recently announced the acquisition of the ThyssenKrupp

09:24Electric Steel India company.

09:26How will this be funded?

09:27And what was the rationale behind this venture?

09:29So ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel is a joint venture

09:33between JSTOR Steel and JFE.

09:35Both together have acquired the asset.

09:38This is a CRGO asset, which is primarily a product which is imported in the country.

09:44This goes for transformers and generators where the country's demand is really going up fast.

09:49Overall, actually, the world demand is going up fast.

09:51And we are integrating this to make, for the first time,

09:57right from iron ore to CRGO in India.

10:01We have also acquired the technology in this process.

10:04And that's a very good positive for the technology has been acquired by JSTOR Steel.

10:09So we will now have the technology for CRGO in India.

10:13This product is a high advanced technology product, which very few in the world have.

10:18This will provide us much higher EBITDA numbers in terms of

10:26because the price of the product is far better.

10:29So therefore, the rationale is to meet the India demand to replace import,

10:33increasing demand with better profitability.

Coking Coal Costs To Go Down In Ongoing Quarter, Says JSW Steel | NDTV Profit

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