Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4 FY 2025 Earnings Conference Call of JSW Steel Limited . 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 touchstone phone. Please note that this call 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.
Thanks, Operator, and a very good evening, everyone. Welcome to JSW Steel's earnings call for Q4 and financial year 2025. We have with us today the management team represented by Mr. Jayant Acharya, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Mr. GS Rathore, Chief Operating Officer , Mr. Arun Maheshwari, Director of Commercial and Marketing, and Mr. Swayam Saurabh, CFO. We'll start with opening remarks by Mr. Acharya and then open the floor to questions. With that, over to you, Mr. Acharya.
Yeah, so good evening, everyone. The global economy, as you know, is navigating a period of volatility shaped by tariff escalations and ongoing geopolitical tensions. The IMF has lowered its 2025 global forecast by 50 basis points to 2.8% compared to its January projections. However, recent developments indicate a move towards tariff de-escalation and offer some upside potential to global growth. For India, the RBI forecasts GDP growth at 6.5% in FY 2026, in line with its estimate for FY 2025. Despite challenges from global trade dynamics, India continues to stand out, underpinned by strong macroeconomic fundamentals. The central bank has adopted an accommodative policy stance, lowering the rates by 50 basis points in 2025 so far. With lower inflation and further policy easing, it will bode well for private capex and consumption both. India's crude steel production rose to 152 million tons, growing by about 5.3% in FY 2025.
Steel consumption also remains strong and increased by 11.5% to 152 million tons, making the fourth straight year of double-digit growth in demand. We expect the growth in FY 2026 also to be strong and in the range of 8%-10%. On the trade front, steel imports rose 9.2% to 10.5 million tons, while exports declined sharply by 27% to 6.3 million tons, resulting in India remaining a net importer for the second year in a row. In response, the government introduced a 12% provisional safeguard duty on flagged products from April 21, 2025, to help ensure a level playing field for the domestic producers. JSW Steel has recently launched GreenEdge, a low-emission steel brand. This is backed by more than 1 million tons of CO2 savings, duly certified by Bureau Veritas, and is available in a carbon bank for allocation.
Customers can purchase GreenEdge steel with a lower carbon footprint and the product of their choice. The mechanism and certification process follows the book and claim methodology as per the World Steel Association guidelines. We are happy to report that JSW Steel has received Responsible Steel Certification for four plants: Vijayanagar, Dolvi, Salem, and Parakh. We have also been recognized as a 2025 Sustainability Champion by World Steel Association for the seventh consecutive year. Our new JVML project is ramping up well, with the new blast furnaces operating at over 90% capacity utilization in March 2025. One of the two converters of SMS and both the casters are operational, and the second converter is expected to be commissioned by quarter two FY 2026. We have also planned a BF3 shutdown at Vijayanagar in July 2025, which will upgrade our capacity of the furnace by 1.5 million tons.
At BPSL, we have completed our expansions to 4.5 million tons and have produced around 1 million tons in the quarter four gone by. Enhancing our raw material security has been a major pillar of our corporate strategy. In Karnataka, we will be commissioning three new mines in quarter two FY 2026, and are targeting around 15 million tons of production from Karnataka in this year. In Goa, we plan to start mining operations at our Kudnem mine in quarter three of FY 2026, and the other two mines would commence operations in the second half of FY 2027. The three Goa mines will cumulatively produce 3.7 million tons per annum. In coking coal, we expect to start production at the Moithra mine in June 2026. We have recently won the bid for operating the Dugda washeries with a capacity of 2 million tons in Jharkhand for a period of 25 years.
We will have backward linkages for this washery and expect to commission it by December 2026. We delivered the highest consolidated quarterly crude steel production last quarter at 7.63 million tons, up 12% year over year and 9% quarter over quarter. The capacity utilization during the quarter at Indian operations was 93%, including the progressive commissioning of JVML operations at Vijayanagar. Steel sales for the quarter were the highest ever at 7.49 million tons, up 11% year over year and 12% quarter on quarter. We achieved our highest ever quarterly domestic sales at 6.72 million tons, which grew by 30% year over year and 12% quarter on quarter, with the value-added and special products comprising 60% of our total sales. Our institutional sales reached record highs. Other milestones include our highest ever sales to the automotive, renewables, and appliances segment as well.
We managed to reduce our inventories in the quarter by 220,000 tons and by 150,000 tons for the year overall. For the full year of FY 2025, we achieved 98% of our production and sales volume guidance in line with what we shared with you at the quarter three FY 2025 results. We reported the highest ever crude steel production at 27.8 million tons and the highest ever steel sales at 26.5 million tons during the FY 2025. We also reported the highest ever domestic sales and sectoral sales and the VSPs, the value-added sales during the year. Our share of value-added and special product for the full year was at 62%. If you look at the financial performance, our consolidated revenues from operations were at INR 44,819 crores, with an operating EBITDA of INR 6,378 crores.
The EBITDA margin stood at 14.2% during the quarter, and the profit after tax was INR 1,501 crore, which doubled over the previous quarter. We started quarter four with a low exit price in December, which started improving gradually from February, rising further in March. Consequently, the benefit on realizations will be seen in quarter one of this financial year. On the cost side, we benefited from lower coking coal prices, which fell by about $15 in line with our guidance. Additionally, we also benefited from the lower cost in iron ore post the shutdown of operations at our Jajang mine. Our captive use of iron ore was lower at 32% in quarter four due to the surrender of the Jajang mine and also commissioning of our new steel capacities.
At our overseas operations, the EBITDA performance of our Baytown mill in Texas improved quarter on quarter to $4.4 million on higher volumes. The Ohio operations reduced its EBITDA losses by half to $7.5 million, with a better price environment during the quarter. The Italian operations were impacted by a delayed order and evacuation constraint due to the congestion in the rail system, which were seen during the quarter, which resulted in an EBITDA loss of EUR 0.7 million. Our net debt fell by around INR 4,350 crores on better cash generation and working capital release. We have spent around INR 3,700 crores of CapEx during the quarter and around close to INR 15,000 crores during the FY2025. Our revenue acceptances as of 31st March were $2.19 billion. JSW One Platform, our one-stop digital marketplace for MSMEs in the manufacturing and construction ecosystem, continues to scale up well.
The GMV for FY 2025 was at INR 12,500 crores, up 2.4 times YOY from the previous year. In BPSL, we would like to highlight a couple of points. We have implemented the resolution plan for BPSL in compliance with law and taken all steps to successfully revive the company to its present status today. The judgment by the Honorable Supreme Court on May 2, 2025 rejected JSW Steel's resolution plan for BPSL and directed refunds of amounts paid to creditors of BPSL. Equity contribution made in BPSL as recorded in the Honorable Supreme Court order dated March 6, 2020. We, along with our legal advisors, have analyzed the matter, and we believe that we have strong grounds for availing all legal remedies. The outlook for the FY 2026 continues to remain positive.
As we mentioned, the growth in the market in India, we continue to see a strong growth, and we expect an 8%-10% growth in demand. The volume ramp-up at JSW Steel will be able to service this increased demand in India. The ramp-up of 5 million tons JVML Vijayanagar expansion, as we explained, is well underway. The new 5 million ton operation post-stabilization will have significantly lower conversion costs compared to our existing operations by around INR 2,500 per ton of hot rolled coil. The blast furnace number three expansion at Vijayanagar will add 1.5 million tons capacity. For FY 2026, we expect our consolidated production to be at about 30.5 million tons and sales at 29.2 million tons. This translates to a growth of 10% in volume during the year, in line with the demand in India.
With these expansions, a significant proportion of our capacity will comprise large and more efficient blast furnaces, which will further enhance our cost competitiveness. Our focus on renewable energy has started paying its dividend. We would be seeing the completion of our 1,000 MW renewable energy during this quarter, and that would be more cost-effective in terms of our overall power cost. Steel prices in the domestic market have risen since March 25 after a period of depressed levels due to near-record Chinese steel exports in 2024. We expect coking coal costs to be lower by around $10-$15 per ton in quarter one as well. Iron ore prices have seen some increase recently, but it will be partly offset through better efficiencies and improved sourcing.
Performance at our U.S. operations is expected to be better on improved pricing and will contribute to the overall EBITDA of FY 2026. We expect improvement in volumes and EBITDA at our Italian operations as well on better rail order visibility from the Italian rail. As a conclusion, I would like to say that the Indian economy continues to remain resilient, supported by strong macro indicators and benign inflation. The RBI is expected to continue easing rates, which should support private capex and consumption. The government is expected to continue its capex investment, aided by a healthy fiscal position, and we expect this capex to be spread through the year. Consumption is likely to benefit from lower consumption, reduction in taxes, a favorable monsoon, and monetary easing. On the back of these factors, we expect another year of healthy steel demand, and JSW Steel is well positioned to support India's growth.
Thank you, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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 their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use hands if while asking a question. In order to ensure that management is able to answer queries from all participants, kindly restrict your questions to two at a time. You may join back the queue for follow-up questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We'll take a first question 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 testing quarter. I have two questions. The first one is on BPSL. Now, as you know, late as February, I think ED, the assets of BPSL were kind of by ED, and Supreme Court allowed the release of those assets. Now they have asked, they currently have said that this BPSL operation, or it was not, the guidelines were not followed, that is mentioned in the judgment. I just wanted to understand how these cases are different and what exactly is the contention of Honorable Supreme Court and whether we can provide some remedy in this and what happens to the production stroke sales at BPSL in the interim. That is my first question.
Thank you, Amit, for the question. I think I would just like to reiterate the matter is sub judice.
I would just like to reiterate that we have implemented the resolution plan in full compliance with the laws, and that is reflected in the status of the assets as you see today. We have reviewed the matter with our legal advisors, and we see a strong ground for availing all the legal remedies available. I think it will be difficult for us to make any further analysis at this stage of the process. Are the production and sales going to continue unabated from BPSL? Yes. From a control perspective, based on the control indicators given, we still have control of the assets. So volume, production, and sales continue as of date.
The second question is more of a bookkeeping one. Just wanted to understand the incremental volume this year that we will get from JVML.
Now, DS3 is going to be shut down for a better part of the year. Just wanted to understand the contribution of JVML specifically to our standalone space.
JVML, the expansion, first of all, as I mentioned, we have achieved over 90% capacity utilization in March in the blast furnace. With the startup of the second converter very shortly, we expect incremental production of about 3.5 million tons from this asset in the year. In spite, as you rightly asked, in spite of the fact that we are taking a BPSL shutdown for a longer period of time to upgrade the capacities, we will still incrementally be better with respect to our production during the course of the year. JVML is one aspect. There are some interruptions which we had in Dolvi, which are now behind us.
We have taken a month shutdown in Dolvi for one of our furnaces, and that will start reoperations by May end, and that will be also fully on track. The capacity utilization in BPSL has improved, and I think that is near capacity utilization, almost at a million ton level. You will see improved volume performance from BPSL as well. All in all, I think we still see an incremental growth in our volumes.
Great, sir. Thanks for the elaborate answer. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital.
Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity.
Just sorry to kind of bother you again on this, but on BPSL, actually, while I understand the transaction is subdued, what's your understanding of the cash flows that the asset has generated since you've taken over, as well as the K6 study you would have done in this asset during this period? How would that be settled if in case it is very static on that as well?
Amit, I think it will be difficult for us, again, as I explained, to respond beyond what we have said. As you are aware, the downside is protected by the judgment of the court itself. Therefore, that is not of challenge. Beyond that, for us to comment on anything else will be difficult.
Sure.
I mean, in terms of the initial investment that should be the asset, is there any, again, understanding or clarity that in case it has to be reversed, then will you get that amount with interest, or will it be the initial investment which will come back?
I think those are matters of detail, which we will not be able to give you any clarity at this point of time. We will have to go through the process and see how it evolves.
Got it. Any sense of a timeline by when we'll have more clarity on this, like three months or six months, any timeline that you can share?
I think in a court process, it is very difficult to put a timeline in place. We will approach the process in consultation with your legal advisors, and we will hope for an early resolution.
Sure, sure.
Lastly, any guidance you would like to share on the near-term outlook on realization and cost?
Yeah. On the cost side, as I mentioned, in this quarter also, we see a $10-$15 drop, lower coking coal cost, which would be positive for our overall cost. Secondly, I mentioned the JVML operations are stabilizing and will be significantly lower cost, and that will contribute to our overall cost improvement. Third lever is your renewable energy, which is getting into operation, and that would be, again, positive for our power cost. On the price side, as I said, March and April have seen primary price increases, and that would reflect in the quarter one of FY 2026. We expect in the range of INR 3,200-INR 3,250 per ton price improvement between quarter four and quarter one of this financial year.
Got it. Thanks a lot. That's precious.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Sumangal Nevatia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. Thank you for the chance. Just one factual question on BPSL. Post our acquisition, has there been any further equity infusion or any loans extended within the company, I mean, from the standalone to BPSL?
No. There has been no further equity infusion and no loan extended to the company.
All the CapEx, etc., basically the money was raised by BPSL, and the cash flows were used of BPSL post our initial acquisition. Is that the right understanding?
Correct. From the internal accruals as per the approved plan. Yes.
Understood. I mean, it's logical, but just to get your confirmation, even the accumulated tax losses, etc., I think nothing JSW would have benefited at the standalone level.
No.
BPSL continues to be an independent entity. JSW Steel has not availed any tax exemption or benefit on the basis of this transaction. Therefore, there is no impact, tax impact on JSW Steel.
Got it, sir. That is very reassuring. Sir, just one last thing. I mean, given we have an agreement with COC that we get the initial amount back in case of liquidation, as per the agreement, do we get the principal, or are we liable to get some interest also on the amount paid?
We will not be able to give you any details at this point of time. I think whatever we have is what you have in terms of the refund outlined in the judgment. These are a matter of details which I think during the process of the legal remedies will be explored.
Understood. Understood. Just one question last on INR.
Can you share for FY 2025 what was our mix for captive and non-captive? Given that we've given up few mines in FY 2025, do you see that we've given up some extensive mines? Do you see any cost benefit coming from FY 2026 onward? Also, the guidance for mix in FY 2026?
As I mentioned, I think the Karnataka mines, we expect a production in the range of 15 million tons in this financial year, which is higher than our last production in Karnataka. Goa, additionally, we will restart one mine. Therefore, the mine which is surrendered, to that extent, I think we have, I would say we have enough offsetting which is there. As far as the FY 2025 captive utilization is concerned, it's been in the range of 37% or so during the course of the last year from captive sources.
Okay.
Sir, there would be some—
I would like you to join back the queue, please, as we have other participants waiting for their turn.
Sure. Thank you, sir. All the best to the team.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Rahul Gupta from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Two questions. One bookkeeping extension of previous question. What was the overall INR production during the year?
Our captive production, right?
Yes.
Yeah. We will just take that number meanwhile while you can go to the next question.
Yeah. Meanwhile, a bit strategic question. I see you have earmarked around INR 27 billion for value-added products expansion. You also mentioned that medium to longer term, you want to keep share of value-added products higher than 50%. Now, fiscal 2025, share of value-added products was 62%.
How should we bridge this gap of 50% and 62%? Any color on this will be very helpful.
The basic intention to give you 50%+ is that as we grow capacities at a time, the denominator goes up. You will always see times where till the downstream capacities are set up, there will be some gap in the overall percentage. However, in terms of absolute volume, I think our BPSL is going up in this year as well. Out of our total sales which we have guided, we expect to be again 60%+ in this year as well.
No, that's great. I was just trying to triangulate this with the INR 27 billion CapEx that was earmarked for expansion towards value-added products. I understand medium to long term, it would come off.
How about over the next two, three years, would this 62% come off materially, or it would be in the rainbow?
No, we are actually entering the CapEx built up on downstream. We are starting our investments in the downstream facilities in our assets in JSW coated. We are also taking steps to add a line for automotive galvanized at Vijayanagar. We would also be looking at enhancing our capacities in our CRGO facilities in Nashik. In addition to the JSW ES facility which we had announced in Vijayanagar, we had initially announced a facility of 60,000 tons in Vijayanagar for CRGO. That also we are enhancing to 100,000 tons in the current project itself. So CRGO, we are moving up our volume. In downstream coated, we are moving up our volume on zinc magnesium products, on zero-spangled products.
We are moving in on the automotive high-tensile strength steel in quoted which is required. So we are taking various steps to see that our downstream expansion is trending. You will see downstream volumes now coming in within the next two, two and a half years as we take up the projects. The last year captive production which you asked was 24 million tons in FY 2025.
Okay. That's great. Thank you so much, and all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we'd like to remind participants to press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie, India. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good evening. My first question is again on BPSL.
Now, if I go back to the structure, we had raised up to INR 10,000 crores of debt in MCLR, which later got merged with BPSL. If, let's say, this goes into liquidation and we get the money back, will we get back INR 19,500 crores? Because my understanding was that INR 10,000 crores is now effectively being serviced by Bhushan. Can you give any thoughts on that?
Hi. This is Swayam. As Jayant explained, this matter is sub judice, including we working closely with our legal team to evaluate different ways where we are going to approach. Allow me not to respond to this question. This question relates more to what happens and how the fund comes out. We are right now in the process of evaluating our next step, and we will update you subsequently when we have more to share with you.
Okay. Okay.
Okay.
Secondly, on the 5 million ton Vijayanagar expansion, I think we spoke about cost being lower to the tune of INR 20,000 per ton. Can you kind of share what are the key drivers of this?
Basically, these larger blast furnaces, which are 5,300 metric cubes, are more efficient in terms of fuel consumption, the fixed costs are lower. The other related conversion costs are also lower. Your overheads are also lower. Therefore, that helps us. Power costs are lower. Overall, you see efficiencies like that in the blast furnaces, and we have built in some more. Our Dolvi furnace has given us the experience because that is also a larger blast furnace. It is producing more than 14,000 tons a day, and we have built in some more improvements in this blast furnace. We see a good cost positioning here.
Got it, sir.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of [Harthu Jozza] from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So my first question is pertaining to debt. If I look on slide 37, you're almost on the net debt to EBITDA, you're almost on your threshold level at about 3.34, which is almost at about 5-year high. Considering a case where things work out in our favor, I just wanted to understand how this will play out in 2026 and 2027, or if things go south, how this will unfold, especially on the net debt level, basically.
Yeah. If you look at how it has the debt, net debt to EBITDA has moved from quarter three, you will see a very significant positive shift from 3.57- 3.34.
What you should remember is that FY 2024 had a significantly larger EBITDA base at control level. It was INR 28,236 crores. That base eroded gradually because in the last one year, we were under a stressed pricing environment. The positive which we see is after last quarter, the base has fully adjusted. As we go into quarter one, the EBITDA will start to normalize. Essentially, the deterioration which you saw has a very large base denominator effect. Actual debt, if you look at it, has only gone up by about INR 3,500 crores. Once the denominator starts to correct, you will also see a rapid improvement in these ratios, and we are confident you will see that as we go into coming quarters.
Because, sir, I was looking at your control balance sheet.
Your total borrowings have actually gone up substantially from almost about INR 85,000 to INR 96,000 crores on a gross level. That was also my underlying reason to ask this.
No, no. You should look at net debt. While gross borrowings have gone up by INR 11,000 crores, our cash balances from INR 12,500 crores have also gone up to INR 19,400 crores. At a net debt level, the increase is just close to INR 4,000 crores. Our ratios look far more deteriorated because of this base effect of lowered EBITDA, which I explained just now. We have crossed that four-quarter cycle now. Now going forward, you will actually see them improving, just like they improved from quarter three to quarter four.
All right. My second question is pertaining to Dolvi.
I think in one of the opening remarks, sir mentioned that there was some shutdown for about a month. What is your impact on the volumes because of that from this one particular shutdown?
We had taken a shutdown of one of our furnaces. There was an interruption, if you remember, last year. We had mentioned that during our past calls, and we had to take a shutdown for certain repairs. Now, we have taken a capital shutdown to put all those things in proper condition. We would take the shutdown for about 30 days or so, and that would have an impact of about 270,000 tons during the course of the shutdown period.
Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Vibhav Zutshi from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
One point only I just need to clarify.
Whatever guidance we are giving and production we are giving is after considering these shutdowns. Yes. Sorry.
Vibhav, please go ahead with your question.
Yes. Thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to get some more sense on the coking coal sourcing strategy. Now, clearly, the industry is sourcing more PCI coal, and share is moving away from Australia to Russia. Probably this is going to increase as the newer blast furnace ramp up, which has dam charged coal covers. Also, we have been seeing more trials coming in from Mongolia. I mean, the first question, is it fair to assume that our coking coal cost savings can be much higher than the benchmark movement in Australian HCC? Some color if you can provide on Mongolia and how the other sourcing strategy is going on for the industry. Thank you.
Yeah. Hi. I'm Arun Maheshwari.
I'll answer this question. Our journey of diversification from multiple sources started long back. It is not the recent one. Our sourcing from Australia, Russia, U.S., Mozambique, Indonesia has been for long. It will continue as a continuous effort, and wherever we get an opportunity to diversify in whichever area, we keep a balance from all geographies so that any disruption in one geography can offset the other part. We have that strategy for long, and we continue to maintain that. It is not that we are dependent on one particular geography for more than a certain % in our overall blend. Coming to Mongolia, Mongolia has been on our radar for exploring as a supply partner, but we see there are logistical challenges because it is a landlocked country.
Coming via Russia, it is already very congested, and taking out from China is also a logistical constraint as of today. We will continue to export that as a source, but as of now, we have not been able to take any quality out of Mongolia. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. We will take our next question from the line of Somaiah V from Avendas Sp ark. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. First question is on the domestic market. I mean, what about production that we are bringing in and also some more capacity coming up in the domestic market?
How do we see in terms of this getting absorbed in the market and also in context of today's pricing, given that domestic pricing is slightly getting premium, very modest premium to China? How do we see the domestic pricing trend in context of this supply coming in on the domestic market? That's my first question.
The domestic market, as we see it today, remains strong. We will see incrementally, probably 13 tons-14 million tons or a little more of incremental demand this year. From whatever capacities we see coming on stream, I think we are very much in line to meet this demand. There will not be much extra capacity in the system. As a matter of fact, if you look at a two-year or a three-year scenario, then you will see that we need to build capacities faster to be able to meet the demand.
Incrementally, we will continue to see a demand of about 15 million tons every year, for which, if you really look at capacity utilization over two years, you need to build at least 20 million tons of capacity each year as an industry overall. I think we are on that trajectory. Every steel company is looking to gear up and put our capacities together in line with the national steel vision which has been laid out.
Got it, sir. Also, on the export market, are we seeing some bit of improved traction in recent months, or exports still continue to be a bit weak, more in terms of the realizations that we can take out of the export market?
Yeah. The additional point, I think, which you'll also have to see is that imports also we do expect to moderate in this financial year.
While exports will probably also face the headwinds as we have seen in the past few months, one thing good which we have structurally done over the past two years is we have gradually reduced our export percentage of our overall sales. You now see that at about 8%, and therefore our dependence on the international market is lesser. Imports will also go down. Therefore, to the extent of the net imports which you see today, I think that gap will probably be far lower or we may not be a net importer, hopefully, if the imports stabilize.
Got it, sir. Also, from a sourcing standpoint, the raw materials for all the expansions that we are doing, what are your broad thoughts on iron ore?
What kind of a mix should we expect in terms of capital, which is what we will be buying from third parties as we expand the capacity in the next couple of years?
I think on the iron ore front, we continue to increase our sourcing from the captive sources, and that effort and that strategy will continue to be in place. Our overall expectation for this current year, FY 2026, is 40% from captive sources of iron ore, and balance would be from different market sources, which we continue to do. This will continue to remain on this front. We are looking at more and more iron ore sourcing coming from captive sources as and when more mines come up for auction.
Thank you.
Sorry, sir. One last question.
Please. I am supposed to join back the queue, please, as we have other participants waiting for their turn.
Sure. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Brokers. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir. First question was on coking coal. So we've been seeing the reduction in costs for a couple of quarters now, but of late, we've seen international coking coal prices going up. So do we think that after one Q or maybe in two Q onwards, is there any further scope for cost reduction on coking coal, or most of it will be done in the first quarter of this year?
See, coking coal is always dynamic, and definitely, it's related to the market movement of the pricing. However, our sourcing strategies are also equally dynamic, and we keep moderating it so that the impact of the pricing movement is not very adversely as what it is seen in general.
We keep dynamically sourcing our material quarter on quarter so that the impact is lesser.
Also, from the supply side, if you see, I think we see a balance in between. There were certain interruptions in the mines, in some particular mines, which are now back on track, and that would improve the supply position. Whatever prices you may have seen an uptick in the recent past, I feel was also partly because of that. I think they will also stabilize as we go along.
Sure. Are we purchasing any external coke or most of it is captive as part of that?
We do buy for some of the other units within the group.
Our quantity purchases expected for this year for coke is small.
It is very minuscule.
Yeah. It is very small.
Because JVML and LR Agis also would have started captive coke as an example.
Yes. Our coke oven five, which is partly already, two batteries are up, and the final battery is December. Final battery. Yeah. I think, yeah, one battery will start in this year. So we will be balanced thereafter.
Sure. Sir, lastly, on iron ore, we've seen some sort of divergence between the domestic and international prices. Domestic prices seem to have been going up, whereas international prices have been decreased down. Is there some supply squeeze in the domestic market? What is driving this?
You're saying domestic price is going up versus international?
Yes. Yes. Versus international. Maybe the discount of domestic versus international.
Actually, I think if you compare with a bigger basket other than China as well, you will see that the prices in the U.S. have gone up between, let's say, $200-$300 per ton. And in Europe, we have seen prices improving.
Basically, you're talking about iron ore or?
Yeah. I'm talking about iron ore. I'm not sure. I'm talking about iron ore.
Okay. Sorry. I misunderstood that as steel. On the iron ore, on the iron ore side, I think prices have been range-bound for a reasonable period of time. Maybe Arun can also clarify this.
Yeah. It has been pretty much range-bound. Of course, we have seen in some months, the increase has been contradicting to the international pricing. However, by and large, if we see in the longer term, it has been more or less in line with the international market prices.
Very good. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Ritwik Sheth from One Up Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening, sir. Sir, just an extension from the previous question.
What is the iron ore pricing expected to be in Q1 versus Q4?
I think it is difficult to give a flavor in terms of exact numbers, but I think it will by and large be flattish.
Okay.
Although there is a recent increase, for quarter one, we expect things to be flattish versus quarter four.
Sure. Got it. My second question is related to Bhushan. Sir, we have seen that EBITDA pattern in Bhushan over the last couple of quarters is lower than the standalone margins. Sir, anything to point out here? Is this a one-off or because earlier, we were more or less similar to the standalone margins? Would you like to comment on this?
I think from an operational standpoint in BPSL, we have put in certain facilities for reduction of costs, which have partly come on stream and which are partly coming in. The second thing which happened is that there was some disruptions in our basically one of our blast furnaces in between with respect to the operational efficiencies, which now hopefully will get on to stream. That will reduce the cost. From a cost perspective, I think we will see operational improvements happening at BPSL. Also, on the price side, we are basically seeing now improved numbers even in the eastern side and northern side to where BPSL supplies more. Number three is that we are focusing to actively improve our downstream mix and our large steel mix, which is happening. It's on way. Those will again get the margins up to where it used to be.
Right.
Over a period of few quarters, it would be fair to assume that BPSL EBITDA pattern should converge towards standalone margins?
Yes. It should be close to that.
Okay. Okay. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Siddharth Gadekar from Equiris. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Any comment on the international subsidy profitability percentage for these weeks?
Yes. In the overseas operations, as I mentioned in the opening remarks, also have done better. We have seen from a profitability standpoint, Baytown has come back to black versus quarter three. Ohio has reduced its losses. Going forward, we see the next year contributing positively from U.S. operations, both from Baytown and Ohio. They will add to the overall EBITDA of JSW Steel.
Italian operations also, we are in the process of entering into a contract for a bilateral order with Italian Rail. That should get inked soon. With that, we will see improved volumes, and Italian operations also will contribute positively to the EBITDA in this year.
Sir, secondly, on iron ore and coking coal production, any volume guidances for FY 2026?
Iron ore production, I think we gave a guidance that 40% of our iron ore requirement will be met from captive sources in this financial year. Last year, we produced about 24 million tons, and this year also, I think we will be in a similar vicinity.
Coking coal?
Coking coal, as of now, we do not have any asset of our own. As I mentioned, Moitra mines will start in June 2026. I am talking about the Indian operations.
As far as our Illawarra mine, where we have a luxury economic interest, which is supplies from Australia, that supplies will continue, and we expect about 1.2 milion tons-1.3 million tons from Illawarra in this year. So that is an investment which we have done, so you can take that as a captive linkage.
Lastly, on the slurry pipeline, we are on track to commission it by first quarter FY 2027.
The slurry pipeline link is going as per the schedule, and we expect it to be up and official by January-March 2027.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Rajesh Majumdar from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. And thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I have a couple of questions.
One is that you have given us a volume guidance of 10% for this year, and probably we see some projects till FY2027. Now, do you have any color on the growth beyond FY 2026 till FY 2030, and where are these sites going to be, and what is the kind of growth that one should assume that the company can have? Keeping BPSL aside for the time, keeping it as a constant, let's say, if you could give some color on that. Also, a related question is whether we have any expansion planned on the electric arc route as compared to the conventional BF route that we have now.
Yeah. Yeah. So we had given a color on this earlier, and maybe I can just try and reiterate that.
In our journey for 50 million tons, we had mentioned that these will be through specific brownfield investments at low specific cost. The facilities which would see the brownfield investments are Dolvi, where the expansion from 10 million tons- 15 million tons is already on way, and we see that completing by September 2027. The second expansion which we are going to see in this year, which we'll complete, is from our BF3 capacity augmentation, which will add incrementally another 1.5 million tons. We also see some de-bottlenecking, which will add another 500,000. Let's say about 2 million tons additional from Vijayanagar, 5 million tons from Dolvi. This would be 7 million tons. In addition to this, we have brownfield opportunity expansion in Vijayanagar for another 5 million tons, which we can take up as an extension of JVML.
We can take up once we see the Dolvi project progressing. In addition to this, the opportunities which we have for growth are the Paradeep Oyster Plant, as we have mentioned to you that we have already started the slurry pipeline project, and that will get connected soon. The Pellet Plant 1 and Pellet Plant 2. There are two pellet plants which we are now building there of 8 million tons each. Therefore, it will be in a modular fashion. We will be able to link it to a steel production facility as and when we will evaluate the opportunities, and as and when it is right, we'll be able to do that.
For the second part of the electric arcs, is there any plans on that?
Yeah. That part, yes.
Electric arc furnace in Salav, where we are looking at a green steel or low carbon emission steel to be produced. We will be doing that through a DRI electric arc furnace, natural gas-based route initially, which later we will supplement with hydrogen as and when hydrogen technology matures and becomes commercially more viable. Even with natural gas, we plan to go up to 4 million ton in Salav through the electric arc furnace route, and that will give us a CO2 emission of 0.7 or 0.8 tons per ton of crude steel.
What is the expected energy?
It will be powered through renewable energy. Yeah.
The expected date for this project, sir? Salav?
Salav, we have given you a guidance already that this 4 million ton of Salav will be taken up in two parts by now to 2030-2031.
I think we will try and maintain the schedule as we go along.
Thank you. My second question is that we've been hearing a lot of talk on defense spending in the EU. First of all, do we have any exports of that kind which is currently there, and there's an opportunity there, and how much time will it take actually to kind of commercialize that opportunity, if at all? Yeah. Thank you.
The defense spending in Europe, we are seeing increasing, however, that would take some time. Yes, defense and infrastructure spending in Europe will go up. That will call for more consumption of steel, and that would benefit the overall ecosystem, whether the steel producers in the world, by and large. We will also be able to maybe partly participate in that.
Once the product comes up, we will understand what they require, and then we will be able to see what supply linkage we can establish.
Any approval, etc., you speak to.
No, I did not request it to join.
It was just an add-on, actually.
Also, the plate mill modifications which we are taking for our Anjar plate mill are also building in defense capabilities. That also will be able to cater to the defense projects in India and abroad.
Thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Tushar Chaudari from Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, could you just highlight the current import situation in India? Are we seeing any imports happening at this level of HRC? Basically, last few days, we have seen HRC prices have gone down by almost INR 2,000 per ton.
That is the reason I'm asking.
Imports, quarter on quarter, if you see, quarter three to quarter four have reduced. Primarily, that is factual, and I think the data is available. As of now, we do not see any surge in import booking, but we will have to keep our watch on because the Chinese exports continue to be at an elevated level. Countries like Vietnam and Japan and Korea, which have an FTA agreement with us, continue to pose risks. We will keep our eyes open and have a watch. Keep in mind also that the safeguard duties are applicable and are under final review. If the imports are found to be surging, then the authorities have the possibility to take appropriate action to safeguard the domestic industry.
Right. Secondly, as U.S. prices, we have seen in-stock post tariff announcements.
Will Ohio see substantial improvement in EBITDA in the next six months, six months- nine months?
Yeah. The Ohio improvement in our, through our vacuum degassing and custom modification, basically, it will give us access to a lot of special schemes, which will give us a better product mix and cost. That will certainly improve the overall offerings to the market. In addition to that, I think we are already seeing Ohio producing at a stabilized level, and with improved pricing environment in the United States, this will build into operational profitabilities for this year. We expect better performance from our Ohio unit as well.
And this impairment provision which you have taken, this is related to INR 3,762 crores?
Yeah. If I am here, impairment assessment is something as a company we do every year.
We review our investment, and if you look at financials for FY 2025, you will see a loss, and that has translated into redoing that investment. It is more of how we see it from an accounting perspective, but at the end, we mentioned. We see far more positivity in the US now. Volumes have picked up, the prices have improved, and we do expect that going into this year, we should see positive contribution from overseas, especially the U.S.
Understood. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. We will take the last question from the line of Prateek Singh from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Hey. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just following up on an earlier question about demand, while you said that incrementally 15 million tons-20 million tons a year, incremental demand is coming up.
If that continues to grow at 10-11%, but only half of it would be towards the flat side, and flats is where we are seeing significant capacity addition across players. What is the plan on the long side? By when can we see a long share in the mix improve significantly from where we are right now?
On the flat and longs, as you know, we are about 75%, 25%. Also, in the recent past, we have added long facility, especially on the alloy steel side in BPSL, which is incrementally special products, which will be going into the Indian market for various special users. In addition to that, we are looking at the possibilities of setting up long facilities in our existing brownfield operations, and we would be evaluating those opportunities, and we would come back to you.
I would just like to clarify that flat steel, there is a lot of construction-related flat steel which now goes into your infrastructure and construction, whether it is tankages or whether it is plates or whether it is any kind of structural high-rises or it is your large water pipelines or oil and gas. There is a lot of structural steel in flats, which is increasingly being used in construction and infrastructure, replacing conventional methods. You find these qualities more consistent, more better. People are able to customize.
If you're making a beam, for example, from a normal long product mill, you are able to make the beam from plates, and we have these plated beam lines, which basically are able to make customized beams for our customers, and that is able to provide them the design capability to do much better in terms of your engineering and design.
Understood. Thanks. Thanks for the elaborate answer. The second one is around safeguard duty. In the last round, around 10 years back, for the duty, there were added measures like the minimum import price, anti-lipping duty. Can the industry parallelly push for these measures in this 200-day period, or do we need to wait for it? Or would these measures be likely a part of the JTR final findings of this safeguard duty? How should we look at these incremental measures?
Is there a possibility of these coming in as well?
When you're talking about incremental measures, I missed that part. Are you talking about other tariff mechanisms?
Yes. Like the minimum import price or the anti-dumping duty of last time, which happened back in the 2000s.
Yeah. There are already investigations ongoing with respect to certain imports where there are injuries found. That is there in terms of anti-dumping investigation being proposed for certain products in some countries. Those will be parallelly ongoing in addition to the safeguard mechanism which is in place.
Understood. Just one last question from my side. I think another participant also asked, what is the reason for a variation decline in BPSL versus standalone? Is it product-based or higher share of exports?
I mean, why did the ASPs fall this quarter, which led to a flat abandon in BPSL while an increase in standalone?
BPSL, as I said, one was there were some disruptions due to basically the product mix and the cost. There was an impact. As we go along, I think our operations are stabilizing, and the cost positioning will improve. Our downstream utilization will improve, and our alloy steel utilization will improve. So a better product mix, stabilized operations will be able to improve the margins at BPSL as well.
Great. Thanks. Thanks so much for the best.
Thank you.
I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Yeah. So thank you very much for all your questions. I think I would just like to reiterate that JSW Steel posted very good operational results in the quarter.
We see a very good volume growth in FY 2026 also. We have given a guidance that we'll be producing 30.5 million tons and 29.2 million tons with a volume growth of 10%. We are looking at various cost efficiencies being built up structurally within our ecosystem, and that will contribute to the margin. As we look at the medium to longer term, we continue on our growth trajectory and expansions as we have outlined in the past. We are very confident and positive about the India growth story, which will provide the necessary market to be able to absorb this growth. Thank you very much, and have a happy weekend. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of JSW Steel Limited, that concludes this conference.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.