JSW Steel expects Dolvi expansion-led volume growth; sees consolidated EBITDA improving

JSW Steel posted its Q1FY22 results. EBITDA looked strong at around Rs 10,275 crore while margin also come in significantly above estimates but it is the debt that has spiked for the company this quarter. The company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,900 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, the highest ever quarterly net profit posted by the company. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company had posted a loss of Rs 582 crore. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD and Group CFO, JSW Steel, discussed the performance.

“The volume growth will come from the expansion in Dolvi. The overall value-added product mix as a percentage of sales has gone up to 61 percent, which will also contribute to the bottomline and also the EBITDA per tonne. Plus, the subsidiaries overseas and in India plus the acquisitions which we have made are all doing very well. That is also one of the reasons why the EBITDA per tonne on a consolidated basis has improved substantially,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

On auto contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), he said, “We have approximately 15 percent of the total sales to auto sector. In this quarter, there is approximately Rs 6,000 - 7,000 per tonne increase that happened to the auto sector. There is one more revision, which is being negotiated from July 1 that is not yet finalised.”

“Japan, Korea, China, Europe and India, all these five regions together constitute almost 83 percent of the total consumption of coking coal in the world. More and more demand is coming in for coking coal from these places. At the same time, there are a lot of constraints for supply. Therefore, cost pressure on coking coal remains,” he shared.

According to him, supply is improving on the iron ore side, the prices are showing a downward trend as regards to the iron ore prices.

In terms of international business in US and Europe, he mentioned, “As far as US is concerned, there is a big improvement. There is a big turnaround as far as overseas operations are concerned. If I look at US and Europe, it is on the path for recovery.”

“We have guided 1 million tonne of production and 1 million tonne of sales. The ramping up of the capacity is happening in the US. Markets are very strong, prices are good, and therefore we expect further improvements in US markets, whereas in Europe, the losses have increased,” he stated.

On the PLI scheme, he said: “Production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is a very good scheme in my view. Particularly for the products, which are not produced in India, specialty products that is where the scheme is incentivising the industry to set up.”