Greetings to everyone. A warm welcome to you all for today's management presentation from Rain Industries Limited. My name is Saranga Pani, and I serve as General Manager of Corporate Reporting and Investor Relations at Rain Industries Limited. Earlier today, we have released our results for the quarter and half-year end date 30 June 2024, and the same is also posted on our website. Shortly, we will guide you through the performance highlights of Rain Industries Limited for the Q2 of 2024. The speakers for today are Mr. Jagan Reddy Nellore, Vice Chairman of Rain Industries Limited, Mr. Gerard Sweeney, President of Rain Carbon Inc, and Mr. T. Srinivasa Rao, Chief Financial Officer of Rain Industries Limited. Before we proceed, the management would like to note that during this management discussion, forward-looking statements may be discussed that include various subjects such as trends, targets, and strategic directions.
These statements rely on our current projections and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements. There are certain risk factors that could lead to results differing significantly from our predictions. The discussion today contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. The related non-GAAP reconciliations are provided in the accompanying slides. Please turn to slide three at this time, where Mr. Jagan Reddy will offer insight into the key developments at the Rain Group during the Q2 of 2024. Thank you, and I now hand it over to Mr. Jagan.
Thank you, Saranga, and greetings to all. As we turn our attentions to slide three, let us start with a focus on safety. At the end of the Q2, our carbon and advanced materials segments reported a year-to-date total recordable incident rate, or TRIR, of 0.22, as per OSHA guidelines. During the Q2, these segments encountered only a single recordable incident involving a muscle strain due to manual labor with one of our facilities. Such incidents are repeatedly common, highlighting the risks associated with physical overexertion and the importance of our program to continue to retrain our colleagues on the importance of prioritizing their physical well-being. Consistent with our prior discussions, our dedication to safety is steadfast. Our safety programs are being continuously refined to meet the changing patterns observed in our operations and the wider industry.
During the course of 2024, we are also pleased to announce that we are implementing OSHA reporting guidelines to our cement segment so that all three of Rain segments will be able to report common global safety statistics very soon. Regarding financials, the Q2 concluded with an EBITDA of INR 4.9 billion, marking progress towards more normalized levels of earnings despite being below the average historical performance. The improvement was unexpected and due, in part, to customers accelerating certain shipments, particularly within our distillation sector, thus shifting sales from the Q3 into the Q2. Initially, this suggested a possibility of increased demand and subsequent order growth for the remainder of the year. However, this does not seem to be the case. There has been no uptick in orders for the H2 of the year.
Essentially, the accelerated Q2 shipments have merely preponed revenue ahead of the Q3. In line with the previous projections, we continue to expect gradual recovery towards normalized earnings, but do not foresee achieving this until the Q1 of 2025. In the Q2, we saw welcome progress with the restoration of our margins in the carbon segment. We are now approaching the margin levels we have historically achieved for two of our primary carbon products, calcined petroleum coke, or CPC, and coal tar pitch, or CTP, after a sustained period where margins were narrowed. This shift is encouraging and results from two main developments. Initially, the margin contraction that affected CPC and CTP has levelled out. Despite a phase of improved realizations throughout 2021 and 2022, a decline began in the Q2 of 2023, which presented substantial challenges to maintaining stable prices for our products.
Prices have now largely equalized after persistently navigating through a pricing arbitrage exceeding $100 over several financial quarters. The second notable factor aiding in the stabilization of margins is related to the cost of our raw materials. We have succeeded in aligning our raw material expenses more closely with the selling prices of CPC and CTP, our major products in the carbon segment. Our most significant challenge going forward is increasing the volumes of our key carbon segments, products CPC and CTP. While this effort will require time, it underpins why we are projecting a timeline continuing into the Q1 of 2025 to regain our historical range of earnings within this business segment.
Despite ongoing challenges with volumes in our carbon segment, we observed an EBITDA margin of approximately 12% to 14% in the Q2, approaching our usual range, an enhancement from the Q1's EBITDA margin range of 8% to 10%. The pricing in the CPC market within the carbon segment is undergoing continued downward pressure. However, we anticipate that any additional price declines will be offset by decreases in the cost of raw materials. We are also pleased to inform you that the regulatory authorities in India have allowed import of green petroleum coke, or GPC, in line with the order of the Honorable Commission for Air Quality Management, or CAQM, which was passed under the directions of the Honorable Supreme Court of India for our Special Economic Zone unit in Visakhapatnam.
This will enable us to increase production at our Special Economic Zone, or SEZ unit, to its full capacity by the end of calendar year 2024. However, we are still awaiting the permission of the regulatory authorities for import of CPC into our SEZ unit for blending in accordance with the import permission, which was granted by CAQM in their order. Importantly, our sales volume of CPC in the Q2 of 2024 marked a substantial rise compared to both the preceding quarter and the same quarter of the previous year. Our efforts remain concentrated on further expanding our global sales volumes of CPC, which have already rebounded in India during the Q2 in line with our expectations.
Global aluminum industry forecasts continue to be strong, with aluminum prices around the $2,500 level supported by relatively low energy costs and anticipations of a robust worldwide economy throughout the rest of the year. Regarding our carbon segment's distillation operations, product prices reached a point of stability during this quarter, even as supply volume pressures escalated. Current trends in aluminum prices, coupled with the recent previously mentioned advantageous decisions in India, which favor improvements in our CPC capacity utilization there, are contributing to an increased market confidence in our vital carbon segment markets. As we progress into the later half of 2024, our improved margin performance institutes confidence with a projected resumption of normalized margin in the forthcoming quarters. This potential upswing contrasts with the past year and a half of waning global industrial activities.
Our advanced materials segments have shown consecutive quarters of increased volumes and profitability propelled by declining natural gas costs and surging demand, especially in our HHCR resins business based in Europe. We are exceptionally satisfied with these developments, which stem in part from shipping complications in the Red Sea. These disruptions have led many European customers to reconsider the long-term consistency and dependability of their historical supply chains rooted in Asia. Consequently, we are not only expanding our sales in Europe but also broadening our customer base, our customer network. Globally, economic indicators remain largely positive to date. However, we have seen recent declines in certain aspects of the markets. In the United States, economic resilience persists despite recent inflationary pressures, reflecting continued reasonably better spending on goods and housing.
Europe is seeing a reduction in energy prices approaching those before the conflict in Ukraine, coupled with recovery indicators in the industrial sector. China recently conducted its central convention to set its economic directives for the next five years. It is premature for concrete conclusions, but it is expected that some physical stimulus measures were planned. We remain optimistic that Rain has the capability to navigate through difficulties in this segment and capitalize on new prospects. Regarding our cement segment, the industry in India has experienced modest growth of 2% to 3% this quarter due to a slowdown in construction activities during the general elections. Nonetheless, external reports forecast a 7% to 8% annual increase in cement volumes for the Fiscal year 2024, 2025, fueled by consistent demand from infrastructure and housing sectors.
Post-elections, the government's allocation of significant development funds for infrastructure, approval of more housing schemes, along with the industrial expansion throughout India, especially given the government stability in Andhra Pradesh, which is keen on developing and constructing its state capital, should enhance cement demand in southern India. Recent industry analysis predicts that between 63 to 70 million tons of new production capacity will be added to the cement industry in India over the Fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2025, 2026. About 30 to 35 million tons, of which is anticipated in Fiscal year 2024, 2025 itself. Capacity utilization is also projected to increase to 71% in Fiscal 2024, 2025, up from 70% in Fiscal year 2023, 2024, propelled by rising cement volumes. Considering these circumstances, we are hopeful about Rain's ability to manage any challenges ahead of our cement segment and leverage potential opportunities.
Now, I will hand over the presentation to Gerry, who will provide further updates on the industry and our business on slide four. Gerry?
Thank you, Jagan. Hello, everyone. It's a pleasure to speak with you all again. Proceeding to slide four, industry reports are predicting a favourable trend for aluminum's market performance, countering the previously observed decline in prices and customer demand. Projections indicate that the worldwide production of aluminum is expected to strengthen over the next five years, surpassing the total production of the last five years. As we look at slide five in terms of key commodity price improvements and their impact on our business for the Q2 of 2024, we noticed an increase, particularly in benzene prices. This rise benefited portions of our liquid businesses in our advanced materials segment and the other carbon products category of our carbon segment.
Our carbon segment experienced a 20% surge in volume growth during the Q2, although prices for that segment's calcined petroleum coke and coal tar pitch remained relatively stable or saw slight declines. In the CPC market, there was a rebound in both demand in India and the US, recovering from what we missed in the Q1. Regarding CPC pricing, we observed a drop in raw material costs that aligned with declining CPC prices. Interestingly, this was the first occurrence since the peak of CPC prices. Moving to the distillation part of our carbon segment, CTP volumes stayed unchanged from the Q1, while CTP prices witnessed a 6% decrease in the quarter as well, which followed a 10% decrease in the Q1 due to substantial resistance to pricing. Our coal tar raw material prices showed minor change during the same period.
In other areas of our carbon products, specifically within our other carbon products category, we saw a marginal increase in both volumes and pricing when compared to the previous quarter. We're also happy to announce that our advanced materials segment maintained its strong EBITDA performance into the Q2, making it now consecutive quarters of strong EBITDA performance, with volumes exceeding our expectations. Following an optimistic start in the Q1, we continue to see an upward trajectory in both pricing and volumes in advanced materials. In the engineered products category of our advanced materials sector, the quantities of both CARBORES and also petroleum-derived PETRORES remained comparatively unchanged following a significant uptick in the Q1, with prices also remaining steady. Within the chemical intermediate category of this segment, our BTX products experienced stable volumes with an uptick in prices, whereas the volumes for phthalic anhydride declined as prices rose.
Turning our attention to the resins in downstream materials category within the advanced materials segment, there was minor change in both volume and price compared to the previous quarter. Although the disruptions in the Red Sea shipping routes adversely affected the volumes of products from our engineered products category, the same adverse events have conversely been advantageous for our resins and downstream materials category in Europe. The region has shown increased demand for our HHCR materials regarded as made in Europe. Clients in Europe and the Mediterranean are recognizing the dependability advantage of sourcing from Rain's local production of HHCR, especially following another supply chain issue affecting alternative supplies from Asia. On slide six, which focuses on revenue distribution by end industry, you will see that the aluminum sector accounted for approximately 42% of our total consolidated revenues on an LTM basis as of June 2024.
This marks a 6% decline from calendar year 2023, mainly due to diminished volumes in our carbon calcination business in the Q1 of this year. We anticipate a rebound in the usual range of 43 to 44 by the close of 2024. Our remaining revenue streams come from various industries, including the important construction and carbon black sectors. I'll now hand over the presentation to Srinivas, who will discuss Rain's consolidated financial performance on slide seven. Srinivas, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Gerry. Hello, everyone. During the Q2 of 2024, Rain reported a consolidated net revenue of INR 40.56 billion, making a INR 5.65 billion reduction from INR 46.21 billion during the same period in 2023. The downturn was primarily due to a INR 5.58 billion revenue fall in our carbon segment and a INR 0.53 billion drop in our cement segment, partially mitigated by a INR 0.46 billion rise in our advanced materials segment. Furthermore, Rain experienced a decrease in consolidated Adjusted EBITDA by INR 1.85 billion compared to the previous year, attributed to a INR 1.78 billion reduction in the carbon segment, a INR 0.06 billion reduction in the cement segment, and a INR 0.01 billion decline in the advanced materials segment.
Moving to slide eight, we can see that for the quarter ending 30 June 2024, our carbon segment reported revenue of INR 27.95 billion, a decrease from INR 33.53 billion during the same period in the previous year. This quarter's increase in sales volume, however, was mostly attributed to a rise in our CPC volumes. Customers from Asia and the Middle East restocked this quarter following a destocking period in the Q1 of 2024, and some shipments slated for the Q3 were brought forward into the current quarter. However, in the Q2 of 2024, there was a 24.1% reduction in average blended realization due to lower market prices across all geographical areas. Currency fluctuations saw the euro appreciated by 0.4% and the US dollar by 1.5%, both against the Indian rupee.
Consequently, revenues from the carbon segment saw a 16.6% year-over-year decline in the Q2 of 2024 for the reasons mentioned. The Adjusted EBITDA for the carbon segment fell by INR 1,779 million compared to the Q2 of the previous calendar year. The primary causes were delays in adjusting raw material costs to align with the drop in finished good prices. This impact was partially mitigated by higher volumes and strengthening of both the US dollar and the euro against the Indian rupee. Moving to slide nine, we can see the advanced materials segment's performance. During the quarter ending 30 June 2024, our advanced materials segment earned revenues totaling INR 9.4 billion, which is an increase from INR 8.94 billion generated during the same period last year. The uptick in our BTX sales stuck to the expected quarterly patterns, with additional boosts in the segment coming from elevated HHCR sales volume.
These were due to the previously mentioned supply chain interruptions of many European and Mediterranean customers in their historical Asian supplies caused by the Red Sea crisis. Our consistent and reliable HHCR production volumes in our European plant underpinned and supported the increased sales demand from customers for our HHCR materials. In the Q2 of 2024, despite a 16.1% drop in the average selling prices, revenue growth in the segment was partially mitigated by the euro appreciating against the Indian rupee by approximately 0.4%. Consequently, revenues for the advanced materials sector saw an approximate rise of 5.2% in the Q2 of 2024 in comparison to the same quarter in the previous year.
Adjusted EBITDA fell by INR 9 million in contrast to the Q2 of 2023, as lower average selling prices were somewhat compensated by higher volume sales and a strengthening of the euro relative to the Indian rupees. Moving to slide 10, we can look at our cement segment, which experienced a 14.3% decline in revenue in the Q2 of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, attributable to an 8% fall in realizations and a 6.8% reduction in volumes. The adjusted EBITDA for our cement segment saw a downturn of INR 59 million, as lower realizations were compounded by rising operating expenses. Moving on to the next slide on debt, the Q2 concluded with a gross debt of $ 970 million, which includes working capital debt of $117 million. The net debt stood at $747 million, and with an LTM EBITDA of $177 million, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 4.2x.
For the next few quarters, as performance improves and debts are paid down, we anticipate this leverage ratio to gradually approach 3.0x. During the span of past six months, our euro-denominated term loans saw a reduction by $48 million, driven by $35 million in repayments and the remaining $13 million ascribed to the foreign exchange impact due to US dollar-euro fluctuations. In terms of liquidity, we closed the quarter with $432 million comprised of a $206 million US dollar cash balance and $226 million US dollar available in undrawn credit facilities. The group allocated roughly $35 million for maintenance capital expenditure and plant turnarounds in the Q1 of 2024. I will now pass over the presentation to Mr. Jagan for his concluding remarks.
Thank you, Srinivas. Reflecting on the H1 of 2024, we have observed sustained margin pressures in our carbon segment continuing from 2023. Nonetheless, signs of recovery emerge within this quarter. We predict that margin pressures will diminish in the latter half of the year, and we foresee margins normalizing in the H1 of 2025. Our management team is also strategically working towards boosting our CPC volumes in the H2 of 2024 due to the honorable Commission for Air Quality Management order having raised the total green petroleum coke material import quota into India from 1.4 million tons per annum to 1.9 million tons per annum. This is encouraging, especially given that our Domestic Tariff Area plant in India is already back to operating at full capacity.
Additionally, with recent approval for Rain to import green petroleum coke to our SEZ unit in India during the current quarter, we expect increased capacity utilization rates there by the end of 2024. We are currently awaiting permission to import CPC at our SEZ facility, as stipulated by the honorable CAQM's order, which will then further enhance operations at our global calcining plants and expand our market presence in Asia and the Middle East. Regarding our advanced materials segment, the stable margins noted over the past two quarters signal a continuation of this trend in the subsequent quarters. Regarding our cement segment, as previously stated in our opening remarks, we expect a rise in demand over the next few quarters due to Indian government's increased emphasis on infrastructure spending and decreasing operational expenses, which should aid in margin enhancement.
As iterated in our previous quarter's call, while market conditions are beyond our control, cost management remains within our purview. We have begun putting into place significant cost reduction strategies across all regions with the anticipation of realizing their positive impact in subsequent quarters. One example of these savings can be seen in the adjusted EBITDA in our earnings report, which includes provisions for severance costs in Germany. To conclude, my heartfelt thanks go out to our committed employees for their exceptional efforts during these trying times. Their dedication and tenacity are crucial for steering our company through this period of adversity. Although the past year has been fraught with obstacles, our resolution towards Rain's long-term prosperity has not wavered. We are optimistic that our strategic measures will forge a path towards a fortified and resilient establishment.
We appreciate your ongoing support for Rain Industries Limited and eagerly anticipate sharing further updates in the upcoming quarterly presentation. Thank you very much.