Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Jindal Steel Q4 FY 2026 earnings conference call hosted by JM Financial Institutional Securities. 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. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashutosh Somani from JM Financial Institutional Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks, operator. Welcome everyone to the call. I will first thank Jindal Steel for giving JM Financial the opportunity to host today's call. Without much ado, I'll hand over the call to Mr. Vishal Chandak, Head Investor Relations, Jindal Steel, to introduce the management. Over to you, Vishal.
Hi, Ashutosh. Good morning. Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry, good afternoon. Thank you very much for joining us for the Q4 FY 2025 earnings briefing on a Saturday on a long weekend. Quickly we'll introduce the management participants. We have with us Mr. Gautam Malhotra, CEO; Mr. Damodar Mittal, the Whole Time Director; Mr. Sunil Agarwal, CFO; Mr. Sanjib Nanda, President Finance; Mr. Pankaj Malhan, ED, Sales & Marketing; Mr. P.K. Biju Nair, ED, Angul; and Mr. Debojyoti Roy, ED, Raigarh. Without much ado, I would request Mr. Gautam to start with his opening remarks. After this, we will open the floor for the Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Vishal. Small correction. I think Vishal meant FY 2026. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Jindal Steel's fourth quarter FY 2026 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. We appreciate you finding time on a Saturday afternoon to join us. FY 2026 has been a defining year for Jindal Steel, marked by significant progress across our expansion projects, which have taken our steelmaking capacity from 9.6 million tons per annum to 15.6 million tons per annum. We have had a steady ramp up of these newly commissioned capacities at Angul and a continued focus on operational efficiencies across all three manufacturing sites, including Raigarh and Patratu. As we transition into a higher scale of operations, we are well-positioned to deliver not only higher volumes, but a value-add product range geared towards the infrastructure demands of a growing India.
Let us start with the big picture view on the global steel industry, which is entering a phase of measured recovery. There are projections of modest growth of 0.3% in 2026 to reach 1.7 billion metric tons, accelerating to 2.2% in 2027 at 1.762 billion tons. China's demand contraction is gradually decelerating, while India and other developing Asia remains growth drivers. Developed economies, including the EU, U.S., and Japan, are expected to return to positive growth in 2027. The Middle East conflict has tempered near-term regional demand. However, the broader global outlook remains largely resilient. With regards to China specifically, production remains resilient despite weak demand. Crude steel production was 950 million metric tons in CY 2025, down 5% year-on-year, even as domestic steel demand continued to contract at 7% year-on-year.
This growing gap signals persistent oversupply. With that context, exports reached a record high of 119 million tons in CY 2025, with surplus steel entering global markets to compensate for continuing demand weakness, primarily in real estate construction. Coming on to India, the country continues to assert itself as the world's fastest growing major steel market, with domestic demand projected to expand by 7.4% in 2026 and accelerate further to 9.2% in 2027. This outlook is underpinned by broad-based strength across all key steel consuming sectors, infrastructure-led construction activity, the automotive sector, a broader industry CapEx cycle, and a nationwide rails network expansion plan. These demand fundamentals are well reflected in FY 2026, with finished steel consumption rising 8% year-on-year to 164.2 million tons and crude steel production expanding 11% year-on-year.
At a quality level, Q4 FY 2026 sustained this trajectory with finished steel consumption at 44.6 million tons and crude steel output at 44.7 million tons. This reflects growth rates of 10% and 5% respectively over Q3 FY 2026, underscoring India's steel demand recovery. It is also important to recognize that India has now become a net exporter of steel with 0.1 million tons in FY 2026. It is important to note that the safeguard duty on flat steel imports stepped down from 12% to 11.5%, effective April 21, 2026. Turning to Jindal Steel, FY 2026 has been an exciting milestone year in terms of project execution and capacity expansion. During the year, we made significant progress on the Angul expansion.
As you would recall, this plan is to increase the iron making capacity by 6.6 million tons through BF2 of 4.6 million tons, which is operational, and DRI2 of 2 million tons, which is under construction. At a steel making level, capacity was increased by 6 million tons, with BOF2 and BOF3 each at 3 million tons. The cold rolling complex of 1.2 million tons per annum enhances the Jindal Steel product portfolio and supports margin improvement through higher value-added products. On the power side, we commissioned the 1,050 MW Shri Bhumi power plant consisting of 2 modules of 525 MW each. The coal pipe conveyor belt between the thermal coal mine in Utkal C and Angul is operational now. On the slurry pipeline from Barbil to Angul, this challenging project is close to completion now.
The pipeline is expected to be commissioned in this quarter, Q1 FY 2027. Overall, as mentioned earlier, the Angul expansion has taken our company's total steelmaking capacity from 9.6 million tonnes per annum to 15.6 million tonnes per annum. During the year, we have continued to progress our integrated raw material strategy. We have been declared the preferred bidder for Thakurani A1 in Odisha. For thermal coal, you may recall at the end of last year, we were awarded the Saradhapur Jalatap East coal block. For FY 2026, production volume was 9.25 million tonnes and sales was at 8.68 million tonnes, representing an increase of 14% and 9% respectively.
For Q4 FY 2026, production volume was 2.65 million tonnes, representing quarter-on-quarter growth of 6% and year-on-year growth of 26%, and sales volume was at 2.62 million tonnes, representing a quarter-on-quarter growth of 15% and year-on-year growth of 23%. This performance reflects a strong ramp up at Angul and improved capacity utilization across operations, including Raigarh. Dispatches have also improved in line with a stronger demand environment. Overall, we have achieved a balanced sales mix across product categories. We focus on optimizing realizations by moving our product mix towards higher value-added products. Coming on to the financial performance in FY 2026. Jindal Steel reported consolidated gross revenue of INR 62,412 crores, an increase of 8% compared to FY 2025.
Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was INR 9,099 crores, on a per tonne basis, the adjusted EBITDA was INR 10,482 per tonne, compared to INR 11,712 in FY 2025. The profit after tax for the year is INR 3,361 crores, a growth of 18% over last year, a corresponding earnings per share of INR 33. The board of directors has recommended a final dividend of INR 2 per share. For Q4 FY 2026, consolidated gross revenue was INR 19,399 crores compared with INR 15,172 crores in Q3 FY 2026, a growth of 28%. In addition to the expansion ramp up volumes, HRC and TMT rebar prices recovered strongly during the quarter. The benefits were partially offset by an increase in coking coal prices.
The blended ASP has increased by INR 4,743 per tonne on a sequential basis. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was INR 2,647 crore and an adjusted EBITDA per tonne of INR 10,093. Profit after tax for the quarter was INR 1,041 crore. Until the previous quarter, the Australian assets were under care and maintenance. This quarter, we have closed the shaft and the reserves are no longer accessible, although we still have the license. Accordingly, we have recognized an impairment of INR 1,433 crore, which equates to $159 million in the standalone business and INR 834 crore, which equates to $93 million in the consolidated results.
Overall, the ramp up of the expanded Angul facility, along with our commitment to ongoing operating efficiencies and customer focus, will drive our financial performance in the quarters to come. As of 31st March 2026, consolidated net debt was INR 16,019 crores, with a net debt to EBITDA of 1.66 and debt to equity of 0.438. With a ramp up of new capacities and corresponding improvement in operating cash flows, we expect leverage metrics to normalize by Q2 FY 2027. We remain committed to maintaining a disciplined capital structure whilst funding our sustenance and future growth initiatives. During FY 2026, we have invested a further INR 9,574 crores out of the total planned CapEx program of INR 47,043 crores.
Along with the INR 25,924 crores already invested up to FY 2025, the remaining CapEx program is INR 11,545 crores. It is interesting to note that from FY 2022 to FY 2026, net debt increased from INR 8,876 crores to INR 16,019 crores, which is INR 7,143 crores more. During the same time, we have invested INR 35,498 crores in the current CapEx program, which reflects the strong internal accrual allocation we've been able to do to the capital allocation framework. We are making strong progress on our AI and digital transformation journey. From upskilling our workforce and deploying AI-powered digital agents to running smarter and increasingly autonomous plants, we are building Jindal Steel into a truly intelligent enterprise.
Our JARVIS, which stands for Jindal AI for Real-time Visibility, Intelligence and Systems platform unifies production, sales, and business data into one thinking layer. While investments in robotics, end-to-end digitally integrated systems ensure that our business processes are safe, connected, and future-ready. Jindal Steel's ESG journey runs in four clear phases. Through FY 2030, we are building site level control systems and credible reporting foundations. By 2030, we target a 30% CO2 in-intensity reduction, 50% renewable energy, and full biodiversity coverage across all sites. The 2030 to 2040 decade will scale hydrogen circularity and CCS infrastructure. By 2047, our goal is net zero emissions, zero waste, and net positive biodiversity. We were pleased to have our sustainability efforts recognized during the year with S&P Global raising our ESG score from 37 on 100 to 74 on 100, and our CSA score improved from 30 to 72.
Looking ahead, we expect continued ramp-up of the new capacities at Angul to drive volume growth. Steel demand in India is expected to remain reasonably strong, supported by infrastructure development and construction activity. Steel prices have shown recovery in recent months, and are expected to remain supportive in the near term. All the raw material costs, particularly coking coal, may remain volatile. With that context, our production plan for FY 2027 is 11-11.5 million tons, and sales between 10.5-11 million tons. For QY FY 2027, we expect coking coal prices to increase by $20-$25 per ton sequentially. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Jashandeep Singh Chadha from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yes, thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations for a very good set of numbers. My first question is on realization. We see that realization has improved in the fourth quarter. The steel prices continue to improve in the first quarter as well. I wanted to understand, have your contracts been reset on the higher, you know, realization? What will be the impact of the, you know, what will be the impact on realization in the first quarter? Any comment on the recent dip in steel prices? That will be my first question, sir.
Thank you for your question. Two things. We have a mix in our order book of spot selling as well as contractual selling. Typically in a rising market and a falling market, there is usually a lag also in the system. You can see that our ASP has increased significantly and considerably in the last quarter. I think second part of your question was more related to you seeing a slight dip in the market. Yes, we still feel that the, at the moment the market's holding firm and there's nothing to worry about on that front. We do have contracts on the earlier prices as well, which are continuing, which will continue to support us as we move ahead in this quarter. Thank you.
Right, sir. Thank you so much. It means the realization will remain strong. My second question is with BOF, you know, commissions to significant capacity commissioned, with slurry pipeline expected to come in 1st quarter, and then January there's also largely commissioned. What will be, you know, Jindal Steel's capacity, sorry, CapEx outlay for FY 2027 and 2028? Which are the key projects now which are left? It will be, will it be fair to say that now Jindal Steel will be looking more at asset shaping than, you know, further capacity expansion in the next 2 years?
That's a lot of questions in one question. Let me try and break it up. The first, I'll start reverse. I think you're 100% right. We finished our CapEx, or more or less finished our CapEx program. Our focus is on sweating the assets and getting returns out of them. Bang on on that. Another question you had is, I think our guidance has been fairly clear that we'll be allocating INR 7,500 crores to INR 10,000 crores to our capital expansion programs or sustenance CapEx, as we call it. I think that broadly answers your question. If I've missed any part of the question, feel free to go ahead.
Okay.
Thank you. Participants, in the interest of time and fairness to others, please restrict yourselves to two questions. For any more questions, you may rejoin the queue. Our next question comes from the line of Darshan Mehta from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for giving the opportunity. My first question was, basically we had earlier indicated shift to high throughput and low margin products in Q3. However, it seems that even in Q4, our share of value-added products has fallen QOQ. Can you just provide any timeline that by what time should we be able to recalibrate towards higher value-added products? And what is the target value-added mix for FY 2027?
I think our thought process on this is fairly clear. At the moment, we are ramping up our facilities. Whilst in ramp-up, our primary goal is first to achieve capacity utilization. Once we start achieving capacity, the desired capacity utilization numbers, we start going towards the mix optimization. That's the way we're approaching it. I think, you're gonna see a little bit of movement in the first 2 quarters of this year, and then a stabilization in the second half of the year.
Sure, sir. Would you like to call for any one-off, start-up costs in this quarter?
Which quarter? Last quarter or this quarter?
No, this Q4.
Well, it was all. I think most of the start-up costs were covered in Q3. There was some flag end of it which was there in Q4, but it's not anything which is significant, and it's all done now.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vikash Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, can you tell us the contract versus spot sales mix this quarter and expected in the 1 Q? The another question would be the product mix changes impact on your overall realization because as we see, the sequential jump was much higher than what you have realized this quarter. If you could just elaborate on that point for us.
Vikas, hi, this is Vishal here. For any data related questions, I'll connect with you offline. Can you please repeat the second part of your question?
Our product mix is changing towards more on HRC. Obviously, it's a slightly on a blend basis deteriorating. Just wanted to understand the product mix change versus the realization ratio impact, basically. How should we look at the going forward realization increase?
I would stay away from saying the word deteriorating. Yes, we are increasing our flat sales, and you picked up correctly on the, especially on the HR side. Over there also, we continue to expand our value-added portfolio. Along with that, we have the downstream facilities which will actually add more capability and more niche products downstream, which will also add to our realization and our value addition program and ratios on that. In terms of how the numbers will pan out, I think earlier our teams have already spoken about it. I think today we are around 50%. Flat sales will increase in times to come and move towards 70% odd as we move ahead.
Noted. Sir, any update on the FY 2027, at least in the production guidance, as well as the benefit which we are going to receive from the infrastructure projects combined?
I think the guidance I've given at infrastructure.
Sir, because if you're specifically referring to any project as such, because we have already just announced the FY 2027 production and sales guidance at 11 to 11.5 million tons of production and 10.5 to 11 million tons of sales.
That I see on your presentation. I think this was on slide 5. Infrastructure related, if you could tell me the slurry pipeline and the port facility, how much savings we are actually building in from those two projects?
I think on slurry we've been clear in the past. Slurry will come online and it'll start delivering in this financial year. Roughly about INR 700 is the savings that we indicated on that. If you wanna take it to a per ton basis on steel level, it'll be roughly about INR 750-INR 1,000 as we ramp up.
Noted, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kiran Naik from Modi Fincap. Please go ahead.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity. Excuse, can you hear me, sir?
Please go ahead.
Yes, we can.
Hello?
Yes, we can hear you.
Thank you, sir. Sir, can you give me a guidance for revenue growth for FY 2027?
I think we've given you the guidance for our sales and production numbers. I think revenue is a function of a lot of other things, so, we'll stick with that for the time being.
EBITDA margin will be how much for 2027?
Kiran, EBITDA is a function of several things, a lot of which includes raw material and the pricing which remains outside our control.
Also I'd like to add, I think if you look at our performance over the years and quarters, largely we've been a very robust and a consistent performer on our EBITDA numbers as well as percentages. I think that should provide enough confidence for you to take guidance from that.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Satyadeep Jain from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you. The first question on the write-downs. I'm not sure if I missed in the prepared remarks. What's the write-down in JPML and in Wollongong?
Hi, this is Sunil Agarwal. Basically, we have written down around the W symbol, basically Australian assets by INR 834 crores, mainly because, you know, we are going to close that mine. We have already closed the shaft, and that's why it took the hit of around an INR 834 crores. Our India level, if you can see that we have already write-off around INR 1,433 during the quarter.
The remaining loans that you have, is it fair to say that there would be no additional write-downs now?
That's right. We don't expect any further write-down. This is represented by the independent valuation done by a reputed agency.
Okay. Just on the rail rakes that the company was gonna buy. What is the current position? How many rail rakes have already been acquired? How many are left?
We are at about, I think our rail rakes program was about 79 rakes. We are at about 72 rakes, and the remaining rakes are also very soon getting delivered. I think in the next 2, 3 months we should be all in.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Mitesh from HSBC Bank. Please go ahead. Mitesh, please go ahead with your question and kindly unmute your line in case if you're on mute. Since we don't have a response, we'll move to the next participant. The question comes from the line of Somaya V from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. My first question is on iron ore. If you could just help with the kind of pricing trends that we saw last quarter, and also in terms of captive versus outside buying, if you could give us a mix. And also if possible, a mine level, Tensa, Kasia and the newer mine.
Okay. I think mine level, you can take it offline with Vishal. Largely speaking, we saw that the pricing was more or less stable and our mix is about 60/40.
60 captive? That's 70. 60 captive.
40 captive.
40 captive. Okay. Got it. Sir, in terms of incremental volumes that we are bringing in this year, in terms of markets, how do we plan to? Are we going to go into newer markets, or in the existing markets we have the headroom to kind of have this sales potential? How do we see in terms of this incremental 2 million tons versus last year, in terms of replacing the markets? Which markets would be more in the Eastern or do we have to move to newer markets?
I think, there are a couple of ways we're looking at this. Firstly, with our wide product portfolio and the fact that we have a very rich value-added mix and value addition is actually in our DNA, we are able to cross-sell products to existing customers, and we become a good natural choice for them to start buying other products also, which we've just launched from us. We become kind of a more or less, quote-unquote, one-stop shop for them for a large portion of their portfolio. Second part, I think you're talking about which markets.
I think that's more difficult to answer, but we continue to remain focused on what we define as our strategic markets and our strategic markets where we have strong presence, where, usually closer to where we are, and also markets which tend to be larger in size. That's the way we look about it. Generally we're thinking that our customers, actually benefit from cross-selling opportunities that we bring on the table now.
Okay. Sir, on the mining assets, if you could just help us, you did speak about Australia. In terms of Mozambique and South Africa, what are the kind of contribution that we have had in this quarter? Also with respect to the Australian assets, is there any cash flow? You know, you mentioned that winding down of assets, is there any cash outflow that is required from our side, by the time this gets kind of gets closed by?
I will take the first one. Basically, as you say, regarding the Australian mine, hardly we have. Since we have already closed and we have retained lot of people, we have very minimal expenditure cash flow there. That is one question. Regarding our Mozambique mine, we are clearly we are operating EBITDA positive level, we are getting all the mine coals from there to our, for our captive use. Hope that-
South Africa also?
Yeah, South Africa also. South Africa also is operating but due to some local issues, so we are not EBITDA positive, but that mine is operating.
Just to add to it, if you look at the entire big picture of the overseas asset, mine base, the only place where we have taken the large part of the write down is on Australia. Rest of the mines on a net basis are functioning on an EBITDA positive, largely.
Got it. Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Just two questions. Firstly, on the terminal captive power plants. Just wanted to understand when do we expect the ramp up on those capacities and what really is the strategy on the power production from there? I believe you will have some excess power capacity at hand once we fully ramp up these, the expanded power capacity. Will you be looking to sell in the merchant market, or will you just think of using it for captive consumption?
I think the ramp up will be complete within the first half of this year. In terms of the excess power, yes, we intend to sell it, but if you look at the overall picture and the financials, it's not really material to that. It does two, three things. One, obviously we can sell the excess power, but it gives us stability of power for our assets, and it gives us redundancy of power for our facilities as well. That's the way to think about it. Yes, it will contribute to the bottom line, but it's not material.
Understood. Also, is it fair to say that now there'll be no excess sale of byproducts going ahead, with the ramp up in steel capacities happening now?
Yeah, that's right.
Okay. Just where is the, lastly, like you are also looking to increase your EC capacity for some of the mines, which I believe is still pending. When is that expected to come through?
It's underway. I think pinpointing a date will be difficult, but the process is underway, and it's working fairly well. At the moment, with the current capacities, I think within that also we're fairly comfortable.
Okay, understood. Yeah, that's it from me. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sarath Singh from Dhan Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. 2 questions. First is wanted your input on the overall steel demand in India, especially with the ongoing inflationary trends that we are seeing across commodities. Are we hearing some kind of delays in CapEx executions across both public and private companies?
No, nothing like that. I think it's fairly healthy. I think I indicated towards a 9.5% market increase that we're expecting. With the kind of infrastructure programs that we're rolling out, we don't see any issues on that side.
Got it. Second question is, actually on the timeline of the ramp up of the slurry pipeline. If it gets the project gets onboarded in Q1, so by when can we expect a full 100% ramp up or at least at the level of INR 750-INR 1,000 per ton of steel savings?
See, full utilization will not happen this year because this utilization will increase as the other facilities that we have coming up in the future also come online, namely PP2. But in terms of savings, whatever material we bringing in, we will save on that material per ton basis, as I indicated. That is not a function of how much utilization we have.
Got it. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rashi from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you. What was the NSR increase during the quarter, please, sequentially?
I just indicated, the ASP increase is about INR 4,700 per ton.
Okay. Spot versus what we saw in the fourth quarter, how much upside is there for realizations to go up to where spot is at the moment?
You don't know Q1?
Q1 and going forward, as in if Q2 will be higher than Q1, Q2, basically, how much more upside do we have on realization?
I think predicting the market will be difficult, but all I can tell you is that the market's holding up. It's healthy and, as I indicated, because of the way we do our product mix and our contract mix, we are in a comfortable position at the moment.
Okay. On the cost side, in the last quarter, that's the third quarter, you had a one-time start-up cost of about INR 1,500 a ton, and you indicated that there was something this quarter as well. What is the total quantum? As in or this quarter, what is the increment?
INR 125 crores.
That will be monthly.
As I indicated earlier, it's done now.
We can expect a reversal of this entire thing going forward?
It's a cost. Cost can't be reversed.
No, as in it won't recur is I mean.
Oh, yeah. That's all. It's over.
Okay. Yeah.
It won't recur.
Yeah. Okay. The coking coal cost increase during this quarter was how much, $20?
About INR 20, yes.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Indrajit Agarwal from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi. A couple of questions. Given that our flat steel exposure is rising, what kind of end markets are we tracking in terms of segments? Is it more autos, discretionary? What kind of end markets are we already talking?
Sorry. First of all, thank you for your question. We've been maintaining that we are an infrastructure-led organization, and we're also ramping up our facilities. Our focus would be largely led, you know, would be on infrastructure sector, followed by building and construction and then of course, into the downstream facilities, then followed with the automobile sector.
Do we need, some kind of approvals from the consumers on these or fresh approvals from the consumers on these or what we have is good enough for now?
See our HSM has gone very well in terms of getting the approvals, and we have developed all the grades which are needed for all the niche products. We're in the process of ramping them up in this quarter and going forward also.
To add on to that, I think if you think, the thing to look at over here is this is not something which will hold our plans. We are well positioned to execute our plans going forward.
Sure. Lastly, if you can give the flat and long mix for 4Q and FY 2026 as a whole.
52% flats, 48% longs.
This is for the full year?
This is for the Q4.
Full year?
Sorry?
For the full year, FY 2026.
About 14, 951.
Sorry?
Longs. Longs 51. Longs
Are your questions answered, Indrajit?
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Prateek Singh from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Wanted to get a sense about the metallic balance right now, as the DRI plant is yet to commission. I understand that we have 15 million tons of iron making and 15.6 million tons of crude steel making. Is there any plan to buy DRI or other metallics from outside and produce more this year, or that's something we would be looking at and DRI plant once it comes up, it is the only one which will be contributing to our iron making capabilities.
Prateek, Vishal here. As you must have noted that we have already announced our guidance for the production and sales volume for this year. That would explain the kind of volumes that we are looking up and how we plan to deliver. As and when our DRI comes up, which obviously is under construction phase, we will have more metallics, and for the next year, the volumes will continue to ramp up. I would suggest that if you can take the current guidance and work accordingly, that would be great.
Understood. Given that we have seen price increase in Q4 sequentially every month, fair to assume that the current NSRs would be or current ASPs would be still higher than what we delivered in Q4?
It is, but, yeah, it's holding strong. It is higher and, at the moment we don't see anything which is otherwise.
Understood. Thanks and all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. My first question pertains to this tax impact of the INR 840 crore write down in Australia. Does it have any tax impact on the reported P&L?
Yes. We have written down INR 1,433 crore, and that will save tax on that. Yeah.
This INR 840 crore is net of taxes or this is before tax?
INR 840 crore is on the Australia balance sheet.
Yes, Australia.
Yeah. India level, we have written off INR 1,433, and that is subject to income tax benefit.
Okay.
These are gross numbers.
Gross numbers.
These are gross numbers. You can calculate the tax accordingly, right?
Understood. Second is on the value-added product share has come down to around 61% from 66% Q on Q. Just wanted to understand the pricing gain versus the, you know, average price increase for steel. Is it because this was taper down also on account of lower share of value-added products?
No, I think I indicated earlier that as we're ramping up, we're gonna focus on both the things, capacity utilization as well as the value add mix. What you need to also appreciate that, you know, value addition and value-added products is something which is built into our DNA, and we continue to focus on that. In times to come, it will come back to its normal robust levels and improve further.
We also have additional capacities in our flats, in the plate segment on our heat-treated plates, which are doing very well and they are also growing. That will also add to our value-added mix.
Understood. Versus steel prices, you know, what would be the, you know, concurrent increase that we have seen in the, which we can expect for coking coal and iron ore prices in Q1?
Coking coal I've already indicated is gonna be about $20-$25 increase in this quarter.
For iron ore?
That's difficult to predict. It's a monthly thing that happens, so it's fairly difficult to predict.
No, this is current prices for April, basis April prices at least.
It's ±INR 100-INR 150 here and there. That's how it moves. Anything beyond that is very difficult to articulate.
Understood. Understood. Lastly, when you mentioned the slurry pipeline, INR 750 per ton saving once fully ramped up, this is on the company level saving?
Yes. Steel level.
Sorry, at steel level. Okay. Understood. Great. Thank you. I'll come back in queue.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Mitesh Shah from HSBC Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hello, am I audible?
Yes, Mitesh, please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, this is Pinakin over here from HSBC. Couple of questions. First, can you give us a timeline of what are the key projects which will be commissioned in FY 2027 and 2028?
I think the projects, slurry will be commissioned in this quarter. We already indicated ports will be commissioned. We have 2 projects left, which were indicated for this financial year, which were DRI2 and PP2.
Sure. The DRI plant is what Q2, Q4? How should we look at it?
It was the end of the year.
Okay. second is, if you look at Q4 volume sales of 2.62 and the guidance, effectively it's fair to say that the Q4 sales is going to be the run rate for this year. I mean, sequentially, unlikely to see any big pickup in sales volume.
I think, you know, the market is seasonal, so this factors in the seasonality as well.
Oh, okay. Got it. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ashish Jain from Macquarie Group. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi, sir. Good afternoon. My first question is, you know, a clarification. This cost saving from slurry pipeline, which you said is INR 750 per ton, is on the full volumes, full steel volumes of the company, right? Like on 10, 11 million ton kind of number. Is that the way to think?
No. Earlier indicated that INR 700 per ton of iron ore coming in, which will translate to that kind of a number. That is not dependent on it going towards the full utilization.
Okay. Got it. Secondly, you know, in terms of our raw material security, you know, where do we see ourselves, you know, moving in terms of, let's say, in the next 2 years or so versus where we are on thermal coking coal and iron ore? By security, I mean backward integration.
I think all our announcements are there. The new mines are also announced, that's also available. We have the coal mine and the iron ore mine, as I indicated. The current capacities are already, I think, in the pack for each mine. If you want any further details, I think Vishal can take it offline.
I'll reach out to Vishal. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks.
Thank you. Once again, thank you for joining us on a Saturday afternoon. Overall, Jindal Steel is well-positioned to benefit from the ongoing industry dynamics and deliver sustainable growth in the coming years. Thank you once again, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to invite you and thanks.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of JM Financial Institutional Securities, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.