Tag: steel

JSW Steel second-quarter profit beats forecasts on higher output, prices

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd said on Thursday net profit more than doubled in the second quarter, handily beating market estimates on the back of higher steel prices and strong production growth.

Net profit for the Mumbai-based firm in the three months through September rose to 21.26 billion rupees ($290 million) from 8.39 billion a year earlier.

Analysts had on average expected a net profit of 19.58 billion rupees, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

The steelmaker posted more than 6 percent year-on-year growth in crude steel production to 4.18 million tonnes in the quarter, aided by higher capacity utilisation at its Vijayanagar and Salem steelworks.

Total revenue from operations for the quarter rose 25 percent to 215.52 billion rupees, while domestic sales volume during the quarter grew 11 percent, JSW said.

Total expenses however jumped 16.1 percent due to increased costs of key inputs such as iron ore and coal, the company said.

JSW also approved a rights issue of new stock worth 50 billion rupees.

Minutes after the results were announced, shares in JSW Steel ended 0.4 percent higher.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India’s steel demand expected to move back to higher growth track

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

India’s steel demand is expected to move back to a higher growth track as the country recovers from “twin shocks of demonetisation and GST implementation”, global industry body World Steel Association (worldsteel) said on Tuesday.

In its October 2018 Short Range Outlook, worldsteel said it projects global steel demand at 1,657.9 million tonne (MT) in 2018, an increase of 3.9 percent over 2017.

The demand for steel in the developed world remains healthy, while in the developing countries steel demand will continue to recover amid challenges.

“As India recovers from the twin shocks of demonetisation and GST implementation, India’s steel demand is expected to move back to a higher growth track. The demand will be supported by improving investment and infrastructure programmes. Stressed government finances and corporate debt weighs on the outlook,” the body said.

The demand will be supported by improving investment and infrastructure programmes, worldsteel said adding the stressed government finances and corporate debt weighs on the outlook.

In the first half of 2018, Chinese steel demand got a boost from the mini stimulus in real estate and the strong global economy. However, continued economic rebalancing efforts and toughening environmental regulations will lead to deceleration of steel demand toward the end of 2018 and 2019.

“Both downside and upside risks exist for China. Downside risks come from the ongoing trade friction with the US and a decelerating global economy.

“However, if the Chinese government decides to use stimulus measures to contain the potential slowdown of the Chinese economy in the face of a deteriorating economic environment, steel demand in 2019 will be boosted,” it said.

Demand in the ASEAN region is expected to resume its growth momentum backed by infrastructure programmes in 2019 and onwards. Risks are largely related to rising trade tensions between the US and China, currency volatilities and political instability.

Steel demand in developing Asia excluding China is expected to increase by 5.9 per cent and 6.8 per cent in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, reforms and a stronger oil market have led to an upward momentum in steel demand, but at a slow pace.

The outlook for Iran has turned less favourable due to the reinstatement of sanctions by the US.

Even with the rise in oil prices, growth in steel demand in Russia is expected to show weak momentum.

Turkish steel demand is expected to contract in 2018 with the currency crisis it has faced, but the government’s stabilisation measures and a consequent return to the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector is expected to help recovery in 2019.

Steel demand in the Latin American economies is continuing its second year of recovery backed by positive developments in the domestic and the global economy. Steel demand in Brazil continued its stable recovery in 2018.

This will continue into 2019 as election fever subsides. Steel demand in Mexico has suffered from uncertainties related to the NAFTA negotiation and the election, but the recent signing of USMCA and the new President calming jittery markets are expected to help the economy to recover slowly in 2019.

Steel demand in the emerging economies excluding China is expected to grow 3.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The body also said that construction activities in most developing economies will continue to grow, notably in India, ASEAN and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The automotive markets which showed strong growth in the developed economies are softening on the back of slowing demand growth, rising fuel prices and interest rates. In the developing countries, demand for automobiles will continue to grow at a healthy pace. The machinery sector in both the EU and US continues to be supported by a strong business investment phase.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Core sector growth slows to 4.2% in August

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The growth of eight core industries slowed down to 4.2 percent in August against 7.3% percent in the previous month, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Monday.

A contraction in refinery products, coal, fertilisers and steel production decelerated the industries’ output in August 2018.

The output of crude oil and fertiliser declined by 3.7 percent and 5.3 percent respectively.

On the other hand, refinery products, coal, steel, cement and electricity grew by  5.1 percent, 2.4 percent, 3.9 percent, 14.3 percent and 5.4 percent respectively.

During the April-August period of the current fiscal, these sectors have grown 5.5 per cent as against 3 per cent in the year-ago period.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India considers raising import duty on steel to support rupee

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

India’s steel ministry has proposed increasing the effective import duty on some steel products to 15 percent from current rates ranging from 5 percent to 12.5 percent, according to two sources and a government document reviewed by Reuters, as the country looks to support the rupee.

The proposal, which is part of a broader government plan to cut “non-necessary” imports to stop an outflow of dollars that has sent the rupee to record lows, will be discussed in the trade ministry on Wednesday, according to one of the sources involved in the matter.

“The broader message is to address the trade balance but we will try to promote ‘Make in India’ by encouraging domestic (steel) production,” said the source, who declined to be named ahead of a possible decision.

The source said there was no certainty that the proposed duty would be imposed.

The steel and trade ministries did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

In the three months to end-June, India became a net steel importer for the first time in two years, with foreign supplies reaching 2.1 million tonnes, up 15 percent from a year earlier, according to official data.

In the 2017/18 financial year to end-March, the country imported 8.4 million tonnes of steel, 45 percent of which came from Japan and South Korea with which India has free trade agreements.

The proposed duties may not apply to imports from the North Asian countries, but other steel suppliers such as China, South Africa, Malaysia, Russia and Indonesia could be affected.

Apart from steel, India is considering raising import duties on some farm commodities, potentially for a few months, although it is wary of the risks of retaliation, said a senior government official with knowledge of inter-ministerial deliberations on proposed restrictions.

The government is also looking at curbs on imports of gold and high-end electronic items, a trade ministry source said last week.

India is the world’s second biggest gold buyer, and its imports in August rose more than 90 percent to $3.64 billion.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Steel Minister asks PSUs to match private players in production

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

In order to emerge as a competitive force internationally in steel sector, Indian PSUs will have to follow practices of private sector firms that account for 80-82 percent of the domestic production, Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has said. The steel minister has also called for snatching opportunities from competitors like China to emerge as a global player in steel.

“The PSUs, which contribute about 18-20 percent of the steel production, should try to learn from the private sector, which accounted for the balance 80-82 percent of the production, if India has to emerge as a strong and competitive force internationally,” minutes of a recent meeting quoted Singh as saying.

The minister also underlined the need for strengthening the country’s position in the steel sector, while focussing on the requirement of producing high quality alloy.

Over the policy restrictions on the Central and state governments to buy domestic steel, the minister clarified that there were some exemptions for high quality grade steel that is not available domestically.

Expressing confidence that steel demand was virtually guaranteed for the next five decades, the minister in the minutes pointed out: “We were behind in snatching competition from other competitors like China, and should use more of our native innovative instincts to become a major player in the global market”.

Singh said the steel industry had come out of its crisis in the last 3-4 years and was in a position to look forward towards growth.

The National Steel Policy 2017 has set a target of 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of production capacity by 2030.

The production capacity in 2017-18 has reached 137.97 million tonnes (MT).

The world crude steel production in 2017 registered a growth rate of about 5.3 per cent as compared to the previous year. The global production in 2017 stood at 1,691.2 million tonnes.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

JSPL plans to demerge steel, power, international business into three separate units

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

In a bid to reduce its around Rs 42,000 crore debt, Naveen Jindal-led JSPL is contemplating to demerge its steel, power and global business into three separate entities. The financial stakeholders and prospective investors have suggested demerging Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) into three different entities, according to company sources.

The company is “considering demerger of the domestic steel, power and international steel business as separate entities”, a JSPL spokesperson said.

The suggestions, the spokesperson said, “have been received from certain sections of our stakeholders, which are under initial stages of consideration”.

Giving a breakup of its current debt of around Rs 42,000, the source said JSPL’s domestic steel business has a maximum debt of around Rs 20,500 crore, followed by domestic power business at around Rs 8,500 crore and global business at around Rs 13,000 crore.

Justifying the proposed demerger, the source said there are certain investors whose outlook is sector or geography wise.

JSPL’s two million tonnes (MT) steel plant in Oman, which the company targets to augment to 2.4 MT this fiscal, and international iron ore assets is proposed to be under one global company, the source said.

JSPL has a an independent power capacity (IPP) of 3,400 mw and it is being proposed that it should go under another entity.

“Steel plus international coal assets are being proposed to go under the steel vertical as in Australia and Mozambique, the company has primarily coking coal mines and in South Africa it has anthracite mine. Coking coal has to be used in blast furnace,” the source added.

In India JSPL has liquid steel capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) spread over its plants Angul and Raigarh.

It has finished steel capacity of around 8 MTPA with its plants in Angul, Raigarh and Patratu.

“And this (proposed steel entity) will also have captive power assets of 1,654 mw,” the source said.

JSPL had reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 110 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2018.

The private steel maker had suffered a consolidated net loss of Rs 421.43 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Base effect, lower crude oil production decelerate July core factory output

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Unfavourable base effect, along with a contraction in crude oil and natural gas production sequentially decelerated India’s eight major industries’ output in July 2018.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday, the Index of Eight Core Industries (ECI) showed a rise of 6.6 percent from a growth of 7.6 percent in June.

However, on a year-on-year basis, July’s growth was higher than the rise of 2.9 percent reported for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

“The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stands at 128.4 in July, 2018, which was 6.6 percent higher as compared to the index of July 2017,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Its cumulative growth during April to July, 2018-19 was 5.8 percent.”

The ECI index represents major sectors like coal, steel, cement and electricity. It carries 40.27 percent weightage of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which is the macro gauge for India’s factory output.

On a sector-specific basis, refinery products, which has the highest weightage of 28.03 percent, grew by 12.3 percent in July 2018 compared with the corresponding month of the last fiscal.

Electricity generation, which has the second highest weightage of 19.85, picked up by 4.8 percent.

Steel production, the third most important component with weightage of 17.92, inched up by 6 percent during the month under review, whereas coal mining, with a 10.33 weightage, edged higher by 9.7 percent.

On the other hand, extraction of crude oil, which has an 8.98 weightage, declined by
(-) 5.4 percent during the month under consideration.

The sub-index for natural gas output, with a weightage of 6.88, slipped by (-) 5.2 percent.

Cement production, which has a weightage of 5.37, edged higher by 10.8 percent in July 2018.

Fertiliser manufacturing, which has the least weightage — only 2.63 — inched-up by 1.3 percent during the month under review.

“The dip in the core sector growth in July 2018 relative to the previous month was modest albeit broad-based,” said Aditi Nayar, Principal economist at ICRA.

“The easing in growth of core sector output and automobile production, as well as an unfavourable base effect, suggest that a moderation in IIP growth in July 2018 relative to June 2018 is on the anvil.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

ICRA upgrades JSW Steel’s long-term ranking

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

JSW Steel said on Thursday that credit rating agency ICRA has upgraded its long-term ranking.

The company said in a BSE filing that “ICRA has upgraded long-term rating to ‘[ICRA]AA(Stable)’ from ‘[ICRA]AA-(Stable)’ while it has reaffirmed short term ratings to [ICRA]A1+ for bank facilities, non-convertible debenture programme and commercial paper programme of the company”.

As per ICRA scale, instruments with this rating are considered to have high degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations and carry very low credit risk.

The JSW filing said that the long-term rating takes into account a sustained improvement in the company’s operating and financial performance on favourable demand and remunerative steel prices, a trend which the credit rating agency expects is likely to persist in the near-to-medium term.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow