Hindustan Zinc’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates, on a combination of strong zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange as well as cost controls at the company.
On the cost of production Arun Misra, CEO of Hindustan Zinc said, “We have kept it below $ 1000, towards the end of Q4 we have seen an upsurge in the commodity prices across all commodities. From coal to cement at every stage, every commodity that you can think of is in upsurge that we are seeing in the market and that is bound to continue in Q1 so that is an input side cost pressure that we have.”
“Keeping that in mind as well as little bit uncertainty caused by the current COVID situation we still go with that guidance of less than $1000. But looking at our past trend we should try better our performance of last year going forward in next year as well.”
On export mix for April Misra said, “In Q4 the export percentage is about 25 percent and I believe it will remain the same in Q1 if not maybe a little bit higher where we have 0.5 or 1 percent here and there.”
On zinc prices, he said, “Overall zinc market outlook - global demand growth is likely to be around 3 percent CAGR till about year or till 2023. So that is the kind of outlook people are giving. So the short in the arm will be the success of vaccination in the US and Europe. China is already doing well. 3 percent growth will be very good as the global scenario is concerned.”
“(Demand growth in) India should see an uptick of 4-5 percent and I see prices overall stabilising anywhere between $ 2,800-2,900 per tonne.”
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(Edited by : Santosh Nair)
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