Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to JSW Steel Q2 FY 2025 results conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashwin Bajaj, Group Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Operator. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Ashwin Bajaj, and it's a pleasure to welcome you to JSW Steel's earnings call for Q2 for the financial year two thousand twenty-five. We have with us today the management team, represented by Mr. Jayant Acharya, Joint MD and CEO, Mr. GS Rathore, Chief Operating Officer, and Mr. Swayam Saurabh, the Chief Financial Officer. We will start with opening remarks by Mr. Acharya and then open the floor to questions. So with that, over to you, Mr. Acharya.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here. The global economy continues to perform well. The IMF has maintained its forecast of a stable growth in the year 2024 and 2025, both. Inflation is cooling off. IMF has also upgraded the U.S. growth forecast. However, Europe, China, Japan continue to be a bit weaker. The interest rate cutting cycle has begun, and that is likely to be a positive for the economy at large. China's announcement of stimulus has been a positive development, and we see that reflecting in commodities and metals. Geopolitical risks, especially from the potential escalations which we have seen in the recent past, remain a key concern. In India, a good monsoon is expected to benefit the rural economy.
As we go into H2, we see the government CapEx, which was slow in the first half due to the elections and weather disruptions, will improve. A healthy fiscal balance, stronger tax collection should be supportive of continued CapEx spending. The RBI has maintained its GDP growth projection of 7.2% and has shifted its stance to neutral, which opens up space for policy easing going forward once inflation expectations are under control. Global steel production declined by 1.9% year on year to 1,394 million tons during January to September. This includes about 3.6% drop in China, while the rest of the world saw a modest growth of 0.3%.
In quarter two, FY 2025, India's crude steel production grew by 2.7% Y-o-Y to 36.23 million tons, with a consumption growth of 11.6% Y-o-Y to 37.09 million tons. We expect this strong demand momentum to persist, with steel demand likely growing by around 10% to 11% in FY 2025. India's steel imports in quarter two jumped by about 43% Y-o-Y to 3.18 million tons, while exports fell by close to 30% to 1.27 million tons, making India a net importer of about 1.9 million tons for the quarter. Meanwhile, China's aggressive steel exports growth resulted into 84 million tons getting exported in January to September, which was a growth of 21%, has put pressure on the global steel prices at large.
In response, several countries have imposed restrictions on Chinese imports. The Indian Steel Association is actively engaging with the government to ensure a level playing field for the domestic industry. Notably, the DGTR has initiated antidumping investigations against Vietnam and China for certain products during the quarter. At JSW Steel, mainstreaming sustainability across our business and generating sustainable value has been a priority. Energy transition is one of the focus areas for us to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. So far, the board has approved procurement of renewable power totaling 1,637 MWs across our locations. Of this, 375 MWs has been commissioned and balance are in various stages of being commissioned. The board has approved further renewable capacity of 870 MWs, taking our total renewable capacity under procurement to 2,507 MWs.
With this, we will be able to achieve close to 25% of our power requirement, including JVML, through renewable. JSW Steel has consistently delivered industry-leading value accretive growth over the past two decades. We have already outlined our roadmap to reach 50 million ton in India through brownfield expansions by FY 2031. Expansions are underway to achieve 42 million ton capacity in India by September 2027. The 1 million ton expansion in BPSL has been commissioned, taking the capacity to 4.5 million ton. Incremental volumes are expected to flow in from quarter three, 2025. At JVML Vijayanagar, we have commissioned the HSM in March 2024 and followed it up with the blast furnace and some associated facilities in end September. The steel melting shop is under commissioning, and ramp-up is expected by quarter four, 2025.
Alongside expanding our steelmaking capacity, we are also strengthening our downstream capabilities with a strategic goal of driving over 50% of our sales from value-added and special products. As a part of this vision, we recently acquired 100% equity in ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel India Limited, through a joint venture with our partner, JFE Steel. This acquisition grants the joint venture immediate access to the market, as the production at our joint venture, CRGO facility in Vijayanagar, is expected to begin in 2027. Additionally, JSW Steel will also get access to technology for electrical steel making from ThyssenKrupp Steel, further strengthening our technical edge and market position.
Coming to our strategy of enhancing our raw material security, in Karnataka, we have increased our iron ore mining from seven to 11 million tons capacity for our existing captive mines, and we expect to mine about 10 million tons from these in FY 2025. Of the three new mines in Karnataka, two are likely to be commissioned in quarter four or FY 2025. The third mine is expected to be commissioned latest by first quarter of FY 2026. These announcements will take our Karnataka captive mining capacity to 15.5 million tons. In Goa, the public hearing for one of our mines has been completed, and we are working towards commencing mining operations in the next three to six months, which has a capacity of 0.5 million tons.
Meanwhile, BPSL's Netrabandha mine in Odisha is also expected to begin production in the next three to six months, with an estimated capacity of 2 million tons per annum. On the coking coal front, we have completed the acquisition of 20% effective interest in Illawarra Coking Coal mines in Australia, with offtake to start early FY 2026. Additionally, we secured long-term coking coal linkages from Coal India during recent auctions. These linkages, available for 15 years, will provide around 2 million tons of raw coking coal, further strengthening our overall raw material base on this critical resource. During quarter two of FY 2025, we reported consolidated crude steel production of 6.77 million tons, which was up by 7% YOY, as well as quarter on quarter. Steel sales at 6.13 million tons, which was down 3% and flat QOQ.
Our capacity utilization was higher at 91% versus 87% in quarter one of FY 2025. While a sharp decline in exports due to weak global markets impacted sales volume. Crude steel production at our Indian operations for the quarter at 6.63 million was the ever highest, growing by 7% YOY and 8% QOQ. Steel sales for the quarter at 5.96 million ton were lower by 4% YOY and higher 1% quarter on quarter. While exports were significantly lower, and that was the main reason for a lower sales volume, the domestic sales were the highest ever, growing 5% quarter on quarter and 1% YOY on a good domestic steel growth in the first half of this year. We had the highest ever quarterly sales to the institutional segments, up by 12% YOY.
Our sales to the solar segment grew by 54%. We reported highest ever sales in LRPC and wire rod. Our sales to the appliance segment grew 43%, while our tin plate sales to the packaging sectors were also up by 38% YOY. Our VASP sales volumes was at 60% during the quarter, which was primarily lower due to lower exports. On a half-yearly basis, while exports fell 35% YOY, our domestic sales grew 7% YOY to 10.88 million tons, which was our highest ever half-yearly domestic sales. Quarter two, FY 2025 financial performance has been in a challenging external environment.
Our consolidated revenues from operations were at INR 39,684 crore, down 8% quarter on quarter, while EBITDA stood at INR 5,437 crore, lower marginally by 1% quarter on quarter, with an EBITDA margin of 13.7%, which is an improvement over the last quarter. Our EBITDA on per ton basis was at 8,916 per ton, and the profit after tax was INR 404 crore. At our India operations, EBITDA per ton at 9,266 was marginally higher quarter on quarter, and our investor presentation has a slide giving metrics on the India operations. During the quarter, we have seen strong price headwinds, especially in September, largely driven by elevated imports into India. Our export sales and realizations were also impacted due to weaker global sentiments and elevated steel exports from China.
Our India NSR fell by a little over INR 3,000 on a quarter-on-quarter basis during quarter two, FY 2025. While the international prices fell by about $50, if I were to take China reference prices. But in spite of these headwinds, we were able to deliver a resilient performance during the quarter, aided by a sharp reduction in costs. Our coking coal costs, as we had guided, was lower by $27 per ton. We also benefited from lower iron ore costs and lower inventory losses versus the last quarter. The U.S. operations, Ohio and Texas combined, had an EBITDA loss of about $11 million, primarily because of drop in prices, both in hot-rolled coil and plates, and a maintenance shutdown at Ohio. The Italy operations generated an EBITDA of EUR 6.2 million. Volumes improved, but the pricing environment remained weak.
As you are aware, we had applied for the surrender of the Jajang mine in Odisha in August 2024. IBM has approved the mine closure plan, and we have then submitted a further application for surrender of the mine to the state government. Pursuant to the closure plan approval, we have recognized a provision of INR 342 crore, which is an exceptional item during the quarter. Our net debt increased by approximately INR 4,900 crore to about INR 85,000 crore, mainly due to CapEx, the acquisition of our Illawarra coking coal asset, and some increase in working capital, including the recently commissioned capacities of JVML and BPSL. We expect working capital release during H2, driven by inventory liquidation during peak consumption season. We spent about INR 3,384 crore of CapEx during the quarter, INR 7,850 crore during H1.
We are revising our annual CapEx down from INR 20,000 crore to INR 16,000 crore-INR 17,000 crore, primarily on account of transfer of slurry pipeline to JSW Infrastructure and the BF3 shutdown at Vijayanagar being shifted to H1, post stabilization of the BF5 furnace at JVML. Our revenue acceptances as on thirtieth September were $1.81 billion, while capital expenditure acceptances were at $71 million. JSW One Platform, our one-stop digital marketplace for Indian MSMEs in the manufacturing and construction ecosystem, continues to scale up and has more than 67,500 registered MSME customers. The GMV during quarter two scaled to almost 2.4 times Y-o-Y to INR 2,755 crore and continues to grow rapidly. JSW Steel holds 62% in JSW One Platform on a fully diluted basis.
On the outlook side, I think as we highlighted earlier, we will get enhanced production from the new capacities at BPSL and Vijayanagar from H2 onwards. We are retaining our volume guidance of 28.4 million tons for production and 27 million tons of sales for FY 2025. We will take the five-month shutdown of BF3 Vijayanagar for capacity enhancement post the stabilization of the new blast furnace at JVML. We expect that to happen in FY 2026, the shutdown of the BF3. For quarter three, FY 2025, we are seeing improved sentiments in domestic and global markets following the China stimulus announcements, leading to an uptick in global steel prices. Similarly, the domestic steel prices, after bottoming out in September, have increased in October, both in longs and flats.
We expect cost to go down, driven primarily by coking coal, in the range of $20-$25 for quarter three, as we go ahead. We expect a healthy domestic demand in H2, and this, along with the positive pricing momentum, should actually help our margin expansion in the second half. To conclude, India has become a major contributor of growth in the global economy, offering a multi-decadal opportunity. This is true of the Indian steel industry as well. Out of the total demand of the rest of the world, which has been given by World Steel of 29 million tons expected in this calendar year, 40% plus is coming from India. We expect strong domestic steel demand in H2, driven by the pickup in CapEx by the government and private CapEx as well.
It will be aided by a better monsoon and rural recovery. RBI stance to neutral should be positive and should stimulate interest rate cuts in the coming months, and that would be stimulating investment and consumption in the country at large. China stimulus remains a positive development. We have to monitor their exports, which remain a key concern for the global steel industry. Looking ahead, JSW Steel's performance should be better in H2 with new volumes coming in from our new capacities. The price momentum looks better. Lower coking coal costs and higher volume should aid overall EBITDA for the second half. Thank you, and we look forward to your questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. In interest of time, participants are requested to limit the questions to two per participant. In case of the follow-up, they may rejoin the queue, and are also requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations for a good set of numbers in a very challenging quarter. I have two questions. The first one is on essentially H2 outlook. While you have outlined that things look better, but of late we have seen NMDC taking, I don't know, price hike, which is not fully reflected in the steel price hike, at least in flats. So just wanted to understand how the spreads could improve in H2, regardless of coking coal advantage that you mentioned. And similarly, we have retained our volume guidance, but the outlook for but for achieving that, you know, the rate has to be very steep.
... So just wanted to understand the overall confidence on that. That is the first question I have.
So, question on basically the H2 outlook and improving margins, yeah, basically margin improvement. So, you know, from the NMDC price, iron ore price side, you're right, the prices have been increased and very quickly two times, which was actually we feel not warranted in this pricing scenario, typically now, since NMDC is a steel producer as well. However, internationally, the way we look at it is that the prices inched up after the China stimulus on the iron ore side, but has now again moderated a bit. We feel the domestic iron ore prices will also moderate from the increase announced by NMDC in this month. Having said that, you know, we have certain inventories with us.
I would say certain one-offs of the last quarter, which impacted cost will not be there this quarter. That would be positive. Coking coal, $20-$25 will be a positive. These will reduce our costs going into quarter three. On the price side, yes, I think we have taken a price increase both in flat and long. We feel that the pricing in September had gone down steeply on the back of international drops. This has improved in terms of sentiments. I think the channel stocks had reduced, so restocking demand and demand from the institutional customers have improved.
If you see our commentary, I think while retail was impacted by import sentiment, exports were lower, but our institutional sales, even for the first quarter, as well as for the first half, were actually very strong. Our institutional sales numbers for first half were again the highest ever and grew by 15%. Our focus on this remains extremely strong. We expect now retail restocking to start. Pricing, we feel will remain positive because of a seasonally stronger, you know, quarter three and quarter four. That will aid margin expansions as we go into H2.
Volume, sir?
From a volume perspective, we are re-retaining our guidance for the overall volume. Twenty-seven million tons of sales and twenty-eight point four million tons of production. I think we'll be by and large now on track to achieve with the new capacities coming on stream.
Okay. Fine. The second one is on the recent acquisition that we announced of this ThyssenKrupp entity in India and that CRGO capacity. So is it possible to share some more color around that? What is the current capacity there? How much capacity... whether there is a scope to increase the capacity in future? What is the current EBITDA margin, and what is the likely margins you can look at in the future? If you can just give some broad color, that would be great.
Yeah. I'll be able to give you broad, because the, you know, there are still certain, subject to approvals, in the process, but a CRGO facility in, as an asset, is a very critical asset for the country at large, because CRGO is a very critical material for transformers and generators. We already are facing a shortage, and the government of India is also very keen that this, product is made in India because it is primarily reliant on imports. I think about, out of a demand of about 300 thousand tons plus, about 120 thousand is, supplied from India, the balance is imported. This demand is growing quite fast, overall, globally and in India as well.
This CRGO facility has a technology which JSW Steel has acquired, and that will be housed in JSW Steel, while the joint venture has acquired the facility at Nashik. So this gives us a technical edge from a technology point of view, as this technology is available with few in the world. From a margin perspective, I would just say that this particular product is an advanced technology product, so the prices are naturally higher since the investment is much higher, and the margins therefore will be better. The capacity currently is at about 50,000 tons. We have enough land, and we have enough possibility to expand. Our aim is that we would take this capacity up in the next one or two phases and increase this capacity.
We will be able to give you some more color as to what, once we, you know, once we go in fully and get in the full approvals in place.
Okay, so appreciate that. Thanks, and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alok Deora from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir, good evening. Just a couple of questions. So first is, the debt has increased in this quarter. So just wanted to understand, where do we see, how do we see the debt moving ahead, by the end of this year and next year?
Yeah. So debt has gone up. This is Swayam here. Debt has gone up by almost INR 5,000 crore to INR 85,000 crore odd. That is primarily because of-
... some cash which is locked in working capital, which Jayant explained initially. There is also two one-off cash outflow. We paid dividend as well as we did an acquisition. So these are basically the main reasons why debt has gone up. Going into quarter three and quarter four with additional volume coming in, the debt in absolute terms should start to taper down. You know, we are committed to the net debt to EBITDA ratio, which we have been communicating for last few quarters. Goal in midterm will be to bring it down to below three, ideally between two and a half to three. But debt in absolute terms should start to taper down.
Sure. And just on the NSR, so what we understand is that the prices have firmed up in October and even next month, some you know companies are looking to increase prices. But you know imports continue to remain elevated, which would kind of continue till November. So how do we see the NSR moving? Could it be more like just a INR 500,000 kind of increase, or could we see a sustained increase ahead in NSR as the demand picks up? Just some color on that. Thanks.
So I think, Alok, the point to understand is that the prices from the beginning of this April to September closing has fallen quite sharply. So today, the price levels at which most of the steel companies have been operating is not really sustainable. Therefore, we feel the prices have bottomed out and now is going for an increase, which is mostly a natural increase, which was due. The demand in the second half, because of a strong second half quarter, as I explained, will be a tailwind naturally. And that I think in usually in a January, March, December, January, we do see price pick-ups normally happening. We have taken a increase in October for flat steel and long steel both.
So it varies in the range of thousand to two thousand, depending on product to product. We are quite confident that this, you know, this price increase will be sustainable. Cost will go down, so therefore, to that extent in the quarter three, we will see some better spread. Iron ore price increase which has happened recently is one area which we need to watch. We will see a coking coal decrease, which will help us in the cost. Other drivers of efficiencies will also help us. So we'll keep an eye on the iron ore side as we go along into H2.
Sure. That's all from my side.
One more thing I would just-
Yeah, please.
I would just like to add is that, our mining operations in Karnataka, where two mines in Goa, which will start, the BPSL mine at Netrabandha, which will start. These will automatically be much closer geographically and will give us a better, product at a lower price, then that automatically will aid our overall iron ore, average price.
Sure. So that will come by from Q4 onwards, will it?
Yes. So, yeah, so as we said, the BPSL Netrabandha mine, the Goa mine, and two mines in Karnataka. These mines we are expecting in Q4.
Sure. Thank you. That's all from my side. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on 2Q earnings. I just wanted to understand the movement quarter on quarter on realization and cost a little bit better, because both realization and cost reduction is much sharper than what we were anticipating. So just if you could explain the movement.
So basically, you know, the mix of iron ore and coking coal, as we said, coking coal costs have gone down by about $27 per ton. We have been able to lower the iron ore cost as well through a better mix of captive, reducing the logistics movement cost in our overall ecosystem for iron ore. Our overall cost of power and stores and spares both have come down, and our inventory impact also, you know, has been positive.
Lower.
has been lower. So therefore, I think all this combined has resulted into this number, which has offset the drop in NSR in overall.
Okay, understood. Understood. With respect to iron ore, is it possible to share what is our this year's mix of captive versus outside purchase, maybe for the first half? And over the next one or two years, how are we seeing this change? And, is it possible to quantify, versus market purchase, how is it impacting our financial? Is it at the margin, slightly negative, and eventually with steady pipeline, et cetera, turn positive? Or today itself it is positive?
Our captive use in this quarter has gone up slightly, even on an increased volume of production. Our captive use was 41% versus 38%, last quarter. So as we, you know, scale up our own mining assets, as we explained, various assets, we will increase our captive use, but also keep in mind that our expansion, so our absolute number of iron ore from our captive will increase, but as a percentage it may vary because as JVML capacity is fully ramped up and BPSL capacity is fully ramped up, the percentage may differ a little bit from quarter to quarter. But on an absolute number basis, yes, it will, our captive will keep increasing.
Karnataka, as we said, we are hopeful to do 15.5 million tons from our own mining operations, that let's say 15 million plus there. Odisha, even after surrendering Jajang, we have enough in the remaining three mines to be able to service our eastern assets as well as move something to our Dolvi asset. The slurry pipeline, which is already doing good progress, out of 300 kilometers, I think we have laid almost close to 170 kilometers, and I think we have welded closer to 190 kilometers already. So that's a positive. This slurry pipeline would reduce our cost by about INR 1,000 a ton, as we had guided last time, INR 900-INR 1,000 a ton.
Our mines in Goa, as we said, also the first one will start off soon. That will again go to Dolvi. That would again help the Dolvi cost, and the new mines in Karnataka, those two mines, which will at least start in the quarter four, will again be positive for our own captive in Karnataka, so it will reduce logistics cost for us in Vijayanagar. It will reduce logistics cost in Dolvi because of the slurry pipeline, and please take into account that this cost of slurry pipeline reduction of 900-1,000 is on iron ore, so you have to put a multiplier impact for steel.
Similarly, you know, the asset quality, because the new mines which are coming is of slightly better qualities, so therefore, the quality of iron ore input will be better. That should be positive for fuel efficiencies.
Okay. So I mean, in FY 2026, 2027, what is the quantum, volumes, captive volumes are we looking at? Is it north of 30 million tons or something?
Yeah, it should be more. I think we are probably-
...
We, yeah, we will give you that color a little bit separately through the investor group, but it will be more than thirty million for sure.
Understood. My next question is on coking coal.
Mr. Nevatia, may we request you to please rejoin the queue?
Okay, all right. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hi, so thanks for the opportunity. A couple of quick questions. The first is, you indicated on the working capital release in second half, would it be possible for you to quantify the number, please?
Yeah, we'll not be able to do exact quantification, but it could be in the range of INR 1,500 crore-INR 2,000 crore.
Okay, so despite, say, if we assume it to be on even on the higher side, we are indicating that we will go out with the residual CapEx after taking it down to 16, and our net debt will reduce into the second half. Is the reading correct?
Correct. Because second half, the volumes will go up. We have just guided that we'll hold full year guidance. That automatically means H2 volume will be higher, and that would mean incremental absolute EBITDA, which is going to be higher.
Sure. My second question has two parts. One is for, I think both are for Jayant, sir. One on iron ore and second is on coking coal. Iron ore, Jajang, sir, can you please take us through the underlying reason why we are surrendering? I understand we have indicated non-viability. Was it just because of the sizing, or was it the distance of the mine from the plant? Because the premium what we have paid over here, I think it's lower than to a lot of other mines that we have paid for. So that was one. And secondly, on coal, possible to quantify some numbers on Illawarra, tonnage, the total investment that we have made right now, incrementally, what is expected? And, you indicated on sale around 2 million tons.
What is the sort of pricing, and by when do we see the benefits of this?
Yeah. Okay, on the first one, on Jajang, iron ore mine. Jajang iron ore mine, I think we bid at a time a slightly higher premium. I think, it was under 10% odd, plus the royalty bid premium, et cetera. So total 127%.
One twenty-seven, yes.
And there was also a, you know, rail siding in that asset, and that was one of the reasons also it was helpful to move material. But over a period of time, what happened is that this particular asset was already used by the earlier lessee for the higher grades, and what gradually got left behind is the lower grade. So as we started mining in the first one, two years, the grades of the higher level got finished and the lower grades came into surface. They have high alumina, high silica, both. So from a usability perspective, it was more difficult, so it was becoming uneconomical to really run it. We had to export a quantity from here as well to be able to make up our MDPA.
So we did not see economic sense in continuing it, and that is why we decided to surrender. We have enough assets in Odisha right now to be able to meet our requirement there. Also, this life of this mine also, which we had, where only two years was left. So therefore, from a life perspective also, we did not have a long time.
Sure, sir. And sir, on coal?
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Shah, may we request you to please rejoin the queue?
I will just answer the question on coal, which he had already asked.
Okay.
On the coal side, coking coal, Illawarra, we have taken a 20% look-through interest, with an investment of $120 million. The offtake arrangement of about 1.2 million tons plus will start in FY 2026. This is a prime low volatile coal which will come to us, which has been one of the volatile, from a price perspective, products. So better control on this asset will provide better stability to us. The coking coal auctions in which we have recently acquired 2 million tons, is the other question I think which you asked, is basically, through an auction process, which is for 15 years, and this is on raw coking coal. This, net of yield will give us, clean coking coal of approximately 1.1 million.
Our current assets in the three mines which we have should give us about one point six million. So both put together, we should be getting from domestic coking coal assets, about two point seven, and one point two to one point three from Illawarra. So typically, about four million tons of coking coal we have by and large been able to secure. That is the overall scenario for you.
Sure, sir. Thank you so much. I'll join back then. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, good evening, everyone. So my question is on iron ore. Is it possible to share how much iron ore we produced this quarter and last quarter? Because I understand that mining royalty is paid on the iron ore what we produce, and maybe because of this fact, if you look at on a per ton basis, our EBITDA per ton seems to be much higher than what it was expected. So is it possible to share that number, sir? That's my first question.
Yeah, just give us a second. So, from a production perspective, you know, last quarter, our production was about 6.7 million tons, which was higher because we had to complete the MDPA, especially for Odisha. In this quarter, our numbers are lower at about 5.1-5.2 million tons, because our MDPA requirements have been completed, especially for the Odisha mines, and therefore, the volume is slightly lower.
So, sir, if you look at your mining royalty this quarter, is it just because of this lower volume or our royalty rates have also reduced and which will increase going forward? So, what essentially I mean to ask is that the EBITDA per ton outlook, which we are giving, have we factored in the cost increase according to the captive iron ore or mining royalty included in that?
So basically, lower volumes for sure is what I just mentioned. And, IBM prices had dropped, so that resulted into lesser outflow on the royalty side. These were the two factors.
And just to add, lower volume on Odisha side, reduces this cost.
Okay. So no, because no-
Really reduced our Karnataka volume. That's what he means.
Okay. Sir, because now when I'm looking at from first quarter to second quarter, even if I include your total raw material cost and mining royalty on a per ton basis, and compare it with the first quarter, it seems to be lower by around INR 5,000. Whereas you mentioned about coking coal, which is around $27, and some, a bit of lower iron ore price. So I was just, trying. I'm unable to get the delta, which I think, someone else also asked for this quarter.
I think maybe our investor team can separately understand and explain to you-
Sure.
But lower exports of iron ore is something also which you have to take into your calculation. Because last time, to complete the MDPA by June in Odisha mines, there were some exports which were at a lower number, and that, again, had an impact. So last quarter, if you remember, we said that the mining, impact was, more, which this quarter has gone down. So factors are basically lower volume, IBM prices, which had, rolled down, so therefore, the royalty premium value terms was lower, and lower exports, of iron ore, which was actually sharply down. So two point three, two point four million, if I recall, which has come down in this, quarter two to hardly point two million. That was the main reason.
Okay, I'll check. My second question is on account of prices. You highlighted that in October we have taken a price increase, and as well as you have mentioned that in second half we can increase our volumes, and if I'm looking at around rates should be more than 15%. So here my question is, one, the blended steel price in October is in flat products, is it higher or lower than our Q2 average? That's one. And secondly, when we are talking about India apparent steel consumption, we have seen that it has increased by around 11% YOY, whereas even our domestic sale has increased just by 1%. So even if you know second half, how we are going to have 15% or 17% increase in volume growth? That's my question.
...Let me answer your second part first. I think when you are looking at YOY, we had a liquidation of inventory on a lower production in the quarter before, quarter two 2024, due to which, you know, the base was higher, and that's why you saw a 1% increase. Whereas on a quarter-on-quarter basis, our sales basically were up in the domestic by 4.8%, close to 5%, as against the India domestic growth of about four, 4.2%. So we are still doing well on that front. On the first half of this year also, our domestic sales, as I mentioned, was quite strong, and the growth was quite strong.
Going forward into, you know, into the NSR, it's difficult to give the full details in one this thing, but let me put it this way, that we have taken a price increase.
Mm-hmm.
As I said, for flats and longs both. We expect that the prices, which were very low in the month of September, will not be sustainable, and therefore, the increase is something which is real and should be sustainable. This is one positive. The cost on coking coal will go down, and that would help. On an average, the NSR, by and large, for quarter two and quarter three, you know, we would expect that we will be close in terms of stability. On an average for quarter two, although we exited at a lower September rate, but on an average basis, we'll be better because the product mix and the price increase which we have taken, both.
Sure, sir. Thank you, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kirtan Mehta from BOB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. We have indicated growth rate for several category of sales, like institutional segments, solar, LRPC and wire, which are quite strong. Would we be able to indicate some quantum about this segment as well, how much they contribute, volumes they contribute?
It'd be difficult to give you, product-wise, segment-wise, but you know, from a overall, as I said, the institutional was very strong for the first half, in which, in the institutional, we said our auto sales was positive. It grew by 6% YOY in the first half. Our solar sales were positive. They grew by 90%. Our overall renewable energy grew by 32%, if you were to look at solar and wind. Appliances grew by 65% YOY. Our branded sales have been stable in spite of the overall retail being impacted. Our branded sale grew marginally, modestly in good branded products, so by and large, I think we'll be able to give you this flavor. Our exports have been down.
That has been the major challenge, but I think we should look at it this way, that we have aligned our production and sales to the domestic market, because the growth in the domestic market was very good. 13.5% growth in the first half of this year, which enabled us to reduce our export, which also was affected by a low demand and a low pricing environment. So that has again been a positive.
Sure, sir. And second question was about, basically, in the quarter two, while domestic sales growth was around 12% YOY in the country, our growth was around 4-5%. Which are the segments where we would have lost the market share?
Domestic growth 12%, you're talking about the YOY again, right?
Yeah.
So here, basically, you know, the way I think we were to also look at it is between also flat and long separately. In the flats, our market shares are more or less stable. In longs, we are doing quite well, but our volume is 25% in our overall mix. 75% is flat. The main reason where we lost a little bit of market share is in the flat, which was primarily because of import. Import moved, as we said, in this particular quarter, to 3.2 million tons, and that was an increase over the last quarter. And our exports also reduced marginally. So this two combined had an impact of almost, you know, 1.2 million tons as a country, I'm talking overall.
Reduced exports by about two hundred thousand tons, and exports going down by two hundred thousand tons and imports going up by one million tons. So one point two million ton incremental availability. So imports basically replaced some part of the domestic demand. That impacted the share of flats, I think, overall. Other than that, I think we are by and large good in the country.
If I can just add, last year, quarter two, as Jayant mentioned, we did almost 750,000 tons of inventory liquidation. So if you look at last year, quarter two, both production and sales were at 6.34 at consolidated level. If you exclude the base dilution impact, the growth in domestic will actually be 7.5%.
Yeah.
Right.
Also, I think if you look at it from an overall quarter-to-quarter perspective, the domestic India grew by 4.2%, where we grew by 4.8%. So this, apart from this one-off, which Swayam explained, which is a variation in YOY, you see, quarter on quarter, whatever India has grown, I think we have done better.
... Understood, sir. Just one question on the CRGO steel. Some of the Chinese companies have been indicating margin in the range of $1,000 per ton. So would we be able to capture the margins in that range for our facility as well?
So I would not like to comment at this stage on exactly giving you the margin, but directionally I think this is a very high margin product, and absolutely right. So this is something which give us a little bit more time to complete all the processes which are in the system, then we'll be able to give you some more guidance.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, thanks for the opportunity. So, my question was around,
Sorry to interrupt you, Amit. Can you speak a bit louder? We are unable to hear you clearly.
Yeah, hi, is it better?
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah, now better.
Yeah, and so, my question is around the overseas businesses. So, like, I think, second half of last year and earlier this year also, we are seeing better profitability coming in from Ohio as well as the Plate and Pipe Mill. So could you just help understand as to why things have deteriorated so much, and is this a new normal situation?
As far as our subsidiaries in U.S. is concerned, I think Ohio impact. I mentioned there was a shutdown which was not planned, maintenance shutdown, which we had to take, that resulted in lower volumes. The lower pricing environment overall internationally also affected the prices. Baytown, while it posted a positive EBITDA, was lower than the previous quarter. Overall, because Ohio impact was more, there was a loss. In Italy, EUR 6.2 million of EBITDA, slightly lower than the previous quarter, but the volumes were better. The prices were lower because of the international price scenario in general. Italy will continue to remain, I think, in terms of volume, it will remain good.
I don't see a problem, from because from an asset side, it's a rail asset which is primarily driving the volumes, and that has a strategic content, and therefore will continue to remain in good demand, and I think the pricing will be better than other products per se. As far as US is concerned, I think we have seen a price improvement in Ohio, primarily because of the international market. Post the China stimulus in U.S. has also improved. Post the shutdown, the facilities have started again, so the volume part in Ohio, in this half will be back to normal. Baytown, the plates prices haven't improved as much as yet, but we are expecting some improvement as we go into quarter four.
It would be, I would say it will be better than what we have performed in quarter two, for sure, but I would not be able to, hazard a guess right now and give you a number on what kind of numbers could come.
No, I'm not looking for a number. I'm just trying to understand, like you, you need about $100 million EBITDA in the Plate and Pipe in 2023 and about $110 million in 2024, and versus that, awfully, it's like-
Basically pricing. Basically the pricing. So you know, the prices, if you really look at, if the prices of the coils went down from whatever, $900+ to $600+ per net ton, which happened in U.S., and then it has climbed now to again over $700 per ton. So pricing really destroyed your margins. Even plates, if you were to look, I think on a YOY basis, the pricing for plates have also come down. So Ohio, if I see on a QOQ basis itself, price have come down by 15%. In Baytown, it had come down by about 10%, close to that. These are CRU numbers. So that was the basic impact. I think the pricing scenario now is improving. That will aid the margins to improve.
Sure. And just lastly, on the guidance, I think coking coal is at $20-$25 for Q3, right?
$20-$25 for Q3, yes.
Okay, sure. That's all. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raashi Chopra from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just following up on a question asked earlier, that there's a big delta on the, you know, the realization per ton differential between the first quarter and the second quarter, as well as the expenses, in the sense that the realization declined by about INR 3,000. But if we actually divide the revenues by the volumes, that number comes closer to INR 6,000. So is this whole thing explained both on the revenue and the cost side by lower iron ore exports?
Yeah. Iron ore export, lower iron ore export is one big reason. But broadly, the three thousand delta we negated as Jayant explained almost INR 950 which is a combination of lower iron ore cost as well as lower volume losses. Then we had gotten about $27 gain on coking coal. And we also saw other type of, for example, steam coal prices coming down. A number of other, let's say, efficiencies, which and lower inventory losses, which actually helped us cover the last thousand. That's broadly what the split is.
Got it. And then on the volume targets that you've maintained, are they maintained individually as well, like the Indian operational target has been, like, dispatch target is still twenty-six million tons? For the year?
The overall guidance which we had given for 27 million tons was including consolidated, basically for both, and 28.4 was also consolidated.
Including-
Including U.S. operations. So both, but the overall targets we'll maintain, and, individually, I'm not getting into detail right now, but I think overall we are maintaining for sure. Because I think I would, because of the ramp up of JVML, I'll not be able to give you exact details as to how. But twenty-six million, as you asked, Indian operations, will certainly be there.
Okay. And just one last question. Any, any guidance on the CapEx for next year since you've reduced it this year?
Since we have reduced it this year? No, actually, CapEx, what we have reduced is basically for, two reasons. As I explained, one was the slurry pipeline transfer-
Mm-hmm.
And the BF3 postponement of the CapEx, which both these put together have resulted primarily in this number. No critical projects have been cut. As yet, we have not done anything like that. So therefore, this 20,000 to 16,000-17,000 is only that number. So next year, going forward, our expenditure on Dolvi Phase Three, which is the critical asset which is going on, our coke oven, our slurry pipeline, our pellet plants in Odisha, are all on track. The mining side, beneficiation, mining asset operationalization, CapEx, all on track. There is no change in that.
So the shortfall this year will just get added on to what you were targeting for next year, is that fair assumption?
Not necessarily. I think what Jayant is saying is, anything which is critical or would add capacity, we will not slow it down. Exact cash, we'll be able to guide perhaps in a subsequent quarter.
Yeah, but the slurry pipeline transfer will be permanent, because that is something which we are transferring out, so that will not come back. But BF3, which we have postponed from now to next year, is something which will come as a CapEx next year. So when we take CapEx for next year into account, we will calibrate our CapEx accordingly, keeping that in mind.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question we will take is from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening. Sir, first, you know, just a clarification on this, the Thyssen deal. The technology has come to JSW Steel and the asset has gone to the joint venture. Is that understanding right?
Yes, your understanding is right.
So what is the, like, reason behind such structure? And what is the outlay for us for acquiring the technology out of that INR 4,000 crore?
Without getting into details of the breakup at this stage, but we basically wanted to acquire the technology and have it in JSW Steel, because CRGO, as we said, is a technology which is available with a few. It's an advanced technology we wanted to house in JSW Steel. JFE already has a CRGO technology in Japan.
Right.
So therefore, for them it was not required to house it in a joint venture.
Okay. Okay, got it. Sir, secondly, you know, in terms of the price outlook, just to clarify, you did say, and like we know, September exit prices were pretty weak, and while we have taken, as an industry, some price hike in October, do you expect September, you know, Q3 realizations to be better sequentially? Is that what you referred to earlier in your comment?
No, I'm not saying that. Yeah, I think that's a point which is good to clarify. No, I'm not saying that. Basically, what I'm saying is that the September exit was weaker.
Right.
The Q2 average was a little higher, because the September-
Right
Fall was steeper. The increase which we are taking, or which we have taken in October, and change in the product mix, which we expect, should enable us to get to a similar average as quarter two. So therefore, the fall, which has happened in September, to that extent, basically, we are trying to see how to make up through a mix of price and product mix.
Got it. Got it. And sir, lastly, can you just quantify your EBITDA per ton for Q2? You know, given all this confusion on price decline and cost decline, which has happened this quarter, can you just quantify the EBITDA per ton for Q2 standalone?
EBITDA per ton for Q2 for consolidated was-
No, standalone.
Standalone. Our
Eight seven six five.
Eight seven six five.
Okay. Okay, okay, got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you very much for being here today. As we said here, that India continues to be a strong growth area internationally. Globally, it's a bright spot. We have seen the steel demand growing very well, first half, 13.5%. Keep in mind that the elections and the weather disruptions disrupted. In spite of that, we ended the first half with a 73 million tons odd demand. The second half is usually better. Last year, we ended the second half at 73 million, which we have done in the first half itself, so we are expecting that this year the demand will finish at a range of 150 million or so. Our total volumes from our new capacities will go up in H2.
That will help us to play into this demand, and that will give us an improvement in our absolute EBITDA numbers. On a product mix point of view, we have some downstream capacities, which will be utilized now with the HSM3 coming in, so the product mix also will go into some bit of value added. Our iron ore mining operations will start in our Goa mines, our Netrabandha mines in BPSL and Karnataka, which should further aid our cost side. CapEx, we are by and large on track to complete all our projects. We expect that this year we will be able to meet all the guidances which we have given, 27 million tons of sales and 28.4 million tons of production.
The full production ramp up for the new capacities will play out in FY 2026. So outlook, India, positive. Steel, positive. JSW Steel, also positive. Thank you.
Thank you. Please contact us at Investor Relations if you have any further questions.