Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Jindal Steel Q2 FY 2027 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities 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 touch tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will hand the conference over to Mr. Vikash Singh. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Anna. A warm welcome to everybody. Good evening. We would like to thank the management to give us the opportunity to host them. Without taking any more time, I will hand over to Vishal for the management introduction and opening the floor. Over to you, Vishal.
Thank you very much, Vikash. Ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon. Thank you very much for joining us to discuss the Q2 FY 2027 earnings release of Jindal Steel. Joining us on today's call are members of our senior management team, Mr. V. R. Sharma, Managing Director, Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Sandeep Modi, CFO, Mr. Damodar Mittal, Whole-time Director, Mr. Debojyoti Roy, Executive Director, Raigarh, and Ms. Roopali Mehra, Head of Sales and Marketing. I will now hand over the floor to Mr. V. R. Sharma for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, my friends, the well-wishers of our company, the media persons. I am delighted to invite you on today's interaction. This is not only an investors' meet or investors' discussion, this is a two-way exchange. We will be happy to take your questions after this particular session. The company has done wonderfully well in last quarter. We have done a record sales in the history of this company, in any quarter in last so many years. That is INR 19,448 crore. I think we are now on a path to reach to INR 1 lakh crore per year of sales. This is what our aim is.
With INR 19,448 crore, if we multiply by four quarters, that should be I R 80,000 crore. But our aim is to reach to INR 1 lakh crore as early as possible. The steel sales is up by 27%. EBITDA is up by 34%, despite of very bad weather in Odisha. A lot of rains were there. The iron ore mines were full of water. We could manage a fairly good production. We are now going to ramp up further. Our aim is to reach to about 11 million ton production this financial year. This is what we targeted earlier. We have reached to a level about 4.79 million in H1. The next, that is H2, we are aiming for 6 million ton. This is net steel. The gross steel may be about 11 million.
The company is doing very well in terms of availability of the raw material, whether it is coking coal or it is iron ore or availability of pellets through our internal resources or other consumables. We have seen in last three months' time very topsy-turvy situation where we found that there was a shortage of natural gas in the country and there was a shortage of propane. This was difficult time basically because of this Hormuz issue or the Iran and U.S. war. Fortunately, we are having the coal gasification plant, and we switched over to coal gas, that is syngas, for many of the reheating furnaces, gear grinding lines, color coating lines, and there was no impact on our productivity, production, and profitability.
Still we are continuing. We are not using propane or natural gas. We are using our coal gas, that is called syngas, or you can say the gas through coal gasification route. Our DRI plant has also done well, and this is based on coal gas. That is again, we call it syngas. We have two blast furnaces in Angul and two blast furnaces in Raigarh. All four blast furnaces, they are doing well now. The new blast furnace, which we installed last year, that has reached to a level about 10,000 tons per day. That is in Angul.
Hopefully, we'll ramp it up in this particular month. Today is 23rd, so I think in seven days time, we should reach to about 10,500 tons per day. In November, we are aiming for 11,000 tons, and then December, 12,000 tons per day. Availability of iron ore from OMC and NMDC is seamless. There is no problem. The problems related to landslide from NMDC route to Angul route, those are over now. Railway is working. The water from mines is already receded. Now the operations at OMC, all eight mines, they are working very well.
Our own mines, Kasia Mines, that also is being ramped up further, and we are sourcing material from our own mines also. We have two pellet plants, two pellet plants in Barbil. Both are running well, and the pellet plant in Angul is also running well. By and large, I would say that the company is in very solid state and we'll be making a record production in the Q3, which will be ending on December 2026. Q4, we are further looking very positive, and we feel that we'll be surpassing the records what we are going to make in Q3. I think Q4 will be much better.
As far as the market is concerned, the market is supporting very well. Though the input costs have gone up, we could recover the entire input costs, and we could make some positive impact in NSR, when we compare on the input costs. The steel scenario is very good. I think it is now 10% YoY basis there is a growth. Though our production has gone up by 22%, the industry overall growth is about 10%. We are aiming that we will continue making such performance in other two quarters also, that is Q3 and Q4. The exports are also picking up. We are doing about 100,000 tons of export every month, mainly hot rolled coils and plates, and some quantity in rails and the structures.
We are hopeful the honorable Finance Minister, the Commerce Minister, Mr. Piyush Goyal, he is already in Germany, and I think he is negotiating with the EU on the basis of the mother of all deal, what we signed, is FTA. I am sure he is taking up with the Government of the European Parliament how to give us a most favored steel suppliers status. Hopefully this will be done. We are very sure, and government is trying its best to utilize the FTAs in the interest of Indian engineering industry, Indian steel industry, Indian aluminum industry, and also for Indian garments and other industries.
We have seen a very positive impact from U.K., and the moment the quota system by EU is relaxed for India, which we are very much hopeful, and Government of India is trying its best, then there will be another door opening to sell more and more steel to Europe. There is a steel deficit of about 28 million tons in Europe, and I think India stands the first chance to supply the right and good quality of steel to Europe. CBAM is an issue today, but overnight the CBAM cannot be diluted. I think EU Parliament and Government of India will find some solution how to meet out the demand of the local people there in Europe, and they can enjoy the—
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management seems to have disconnected. Please hold while we reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been reconnected. Over to you, sir.
Sorry, there was a disconnection, and now I think I am audible to everybody. Coming back on the Jindal Steel scenario, the outlook is very positive. The demand in the country is very good. I am also pleased to inform you that 192-kilometer long slurry pipeline is already commissioned. The commercial supplies to a plant from Barbil to Angul will be starting, I think, in next two, three days' time. All trials are done. The first load, first batch of iron slurry has been dispatched and well received. Tomorrow again, we are going to restart, and hereafter, this will be continuous operation without any stoppage.
We are now aiming to increase our overall product mix towards flat products, though today also we are at a level about 60%-40%. Now we will be reaching somewhere about 65%-35%, 65% flat products including plates, and 35% will be long products. This is what we are aiming for. Now I will request my other colleagues. They will speak with you and they will give the numbers what we have already declared. Many of you must have seen that the results are declared and already displayed to the media. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, sir. Myself, Sandeep. Let me take you through Jindal Steel's consolidated financial performance for the Q2 FY 2027. We have delivered our highest ever quarterly gross revenue of INR 19,438 crore, up 4% year-over-year, while net revenue increased 43% year-over-year to record INR 16,704 crore. This was driven by the record Q2 sales volume, as Mr. Sharma said, of 2.38 million tons and higher average selling prices, supported by a higher share of flat and a lower proportion of TMT within the long products. Domestic sales accounted for approximately 92% of total volume.
Our adjusted EBITDA stood at INR 2,504 crore, up 34% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA per ton increased 5% year-over-year to INR 10,529 per ton. The sequential moderation in EBITDA was primarily due to higher raw material and operating costs, notwithstanding the positive impact of higher volume and improved sales mix. Coming to the cost part, coking coal was a key cost impact, and it was within the guidance, what we have given in the last call for $12-$15 per ton. Power and fuel, as well as freight expenses, especially ocean freight, also increased sequentially. This impact was partly offset by better ASP.
Our consolidated profit after tax was INR 771 crore compared with INR 844 crore in the preceding quarter. Our balance sheet strengthened during this quarter. Our consolidated net debt declined by INR 1,141 crore from INR 15,927 crore at the end of June to INR 14,786 crore as at September end. Net debt to EBITDA ratio improved from INR 1.71 to INR 1.51. Cash and cash equivalents stood at INR 7,237 crore, providing substantial liquidity as we execute our growth program. CapEx during Q2 FY 2027 was INR 1,228 crore and in the whole H1 was INR 3,187 crore.
We remain continued to discipline capital allocation with investment directed towards our steel and supporting infrastructure businesses and a focus on return as the newly commissioned facilities ramp up. Our stated framework envisages annual growth CapEx of approximately INR 7,500 crore- INR 10,000 crore, primarily funded through internal accruals, while seeking to maintain net debt to EBITDA below 1.5x through the cycle. For the second half, our priorities are clear: stabilize and ramp up the expanded facilities, improve product mix, cost competitiveness, working capital management, and maintain balance sheet discipline. With that, we can open the floor for questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. 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. The first question is from the line of Akhilesh from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for giving me the opportunity. My first question is on the production. We have achieved already 4.8 million tons in the first half. Now our run rate becomes quite steep of requiring 3 million tons for the second half per quarter, right? How confident are we of achieving this guidance? Also now since our flat mix has also increased during this quarter, do we see it maintaining in the coming quarters and achieve 70%-30% mix in FY 2028?
We are quite confident that we will be in a position to achieve this 3 million tons per quarter. That means 1 million tons per month. To be very precise, the production planning is 0.96, that is 960,000 tons per month. As far as the mix is concerned, yes, you are right, we are aiming for 65%-35%. 65% will be the flat products, which includes plates also, and 35% will be long products. The reason being for this particular shift from, say, 50%-50% ratio or 55%-45% to 60%-40% or maybe 65%-35% is that there is a better value addition, especially in plates. Plates are doing extremely well. Today we are undisputed leader in selling plates to the country. We produce more than 220,000 tons plates per month in both the locations.
Thanks to Government of India's spending on defense and also the merchant vessels and merchant shipbuilding. This is a good sign. The market for windmills is still very hot in India and also outside India. We will continue making more and more plates and supported by more and more hot rolled coils. The hot rolled coils also, we are aiming only for the value-added hot rolled coils. We are not manufacturing vanilla products in Hot Strip Mill. Either these are high carbon steel or medium carbon steel or something which is niche markets, but very highly remunerative products that we are manufacturing. Maybe not 70%-30%, but yes, we will try to maintain 65%-35%, including plates. Thank you.
Got it. Sir, my second question is now on this slurry pipeline. Now since it has been commissioned, do we see any benefit to accrue in the remaining of FY 2027 as well, o r the benefit will start to come in from FY 2028 onwards only? Also will there be any additional cost associated with the ramp-up, which could come as a surprise?
No, there is no additional cost because this is a pumping station, basically, grinding and pumping station. All the grinding machines are in place. The pumping station is in place. The water arrangement, etc. , everything is in place. We are getting water from government. There is no problem. This water, when we make slurry, we maintain a slurry in a particular density that is specific gravity, 1.8- 2 level. The water we recover at Angul. In a way, the water consumption in Angul, that is reduced because this water, when it goes there in Angul, we filter it and we recycle it. We do not throw water outside because we have a zero liquid discharge policy. Then your next question is the cost impact.
Yes, there will be benefit out of it because the iron ore which is being transported through trucks mainly, that will now be shifted through slurry pipeline. Today we are receiving more than 700 trucks per day full of iron ore. They come from Barbil, Keonjhar area and they come to Angul. Of these 700 trucks, at least 500 trucks will be eliminated now. Only 200 trucks will come, which are geographically in the area, whether we take the iron ore to Barbil or we take the iron ore to Angul.
The cost will be same. It is better to bring that iron ore to Angul in place of taking the iron ore to Barbil. Barbil grinding station is in place, and Barbil pumping house is in place. Now we have to run it on daily basis. Hopefully from day after tomorrow, this will continue nonstop till infinite time. There is no problem a nd INR 700 per ton we will be saving on freight and no additional expenses. So no surprise.
Thank you so much, sir. That answers my question. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from the participants in the conference, please limit your questions to one per participant. Should you have follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Amit Dixit from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations for good performance. Just wanted to get the update on captive coal mining. How much coal was mined this quarter, and what is the opening plan for the other two mines?
Yes. So together in Raigarh and Angul, we have total coal mining capacity of about, total availability is about 15 million tons. Gare Palma in Raigarh is about 4 million, approximate number I'm giving you. The other mines are in Utkal that is near to the plant in Angul. Today, we are meeting out over 50%, 55% of the requirement from our own captive mines. There was some delay, or you can say there was some stoppage because of very heavy rains. I think from 10th of October onwards, everything is going very well. So we are aiming that we'll be reaching to a level about 65%- 70% of the total requirement we'll be meeting out from our coal mines. It also depends upon the cost.
We are sometimes getting very good deals from Coal India and Mahanadi Coalfields, and we try to avail that deal also. Sometimes we need washed coal for our coal gasification plant if our washery is not doing well or if we need more washed coal. So that also we buy from outside. By and large, everything is going very well. There's no problem. We'll be meeting out our entire requirement in the next year from our own coal mines, and also depends upon the costing. If the cost advantages are there to buy something from outside that we'll be blending, then we'll be buying from outside. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parthiv Jhonsa from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for the opportunity. Just continuing to the previous participant's question on captive mining. What is the current iron ore across, especially the Roida and Kasia? What is the current quantum that we are getting?
Kasia, I'll tell you first. Kasia, we are taking out 22,000 tons per day today, and we are going to bring it to level of 30,000 tons per day. Kasia is very rich in minerals in terms of Fe contents. We use this as a sweetener. Roida, at the moment, is not working because one right of way we have to obtain from Forest Department, and this will take a couple of months time because there was no road available from mines to main highway. We had two options, either to make a flyover conveyor or a road. Then finally, the government has taken our request that, "Yes, you can make a road," but this needs some tree transplantation, felling the trees, and then equivalent amount of land, whatever we are going to utilize, that land we have to take for afforestation.
This will be done soon. Soon means, say by January, we'll be in a position to do it. Roida will be in operation fully. It was in operation, but this was suspended because the right of way was not available. These are the formalities with Government of India, we are working. I'm sure by December end or January, we will be in a position to obtain it. The rest of the iron ore requirement, we are meeting out through OMC and NMDC. OMC, we have 13.5 million ton of long-term agreement, and they are supporting us.
Though there were problems in last month, especially last two months and during the monsoon season, because most of their mines were full of water. NMDC, there was a stoppage because of landslide on a railway track. This took about 27 days to clear up and to relay the railway line. Now it is working well, so no problem. This quarter, another two months will be superbly good. So no shortage. Hope I have answered. Kasia, 20,000 tons today per day, and we are going to ramp it up to 30,000. If there is shortage, we can do it 50,000 tons per day also. But we are meeting out the OMC and NMDC, they are supporting us. We are meeting out our requirement.
Thank you so much for that. That was actually quite elaborate. Thank you so much for the elaborate answer. Sir, my second question is pertaining to Angul. Now we believe that you draw water from Brahmani River as per your EC documents, right? And the current sanction what we have is about 59.1 billion liters on an annualized basis. Though you have applied for about 140+ billion liters , but today it is at 59.1 billion liters. Now, considering Brahmani's water reservoir level is quite short, it is at about 12.5% below its normative level.
And now when you have given that Q3 and Q4 you will be doing like a record volume. Wouldn't this water be a challenge because you require water across each and every step, right? Even if you consider whatever water you used last year, just multiply that, it is about 11% of recycling what you have done. Even after considering and putting everything there would be some sensitivity to the volumes, in my understanding.
Thank you for your concern and thanks, you have done a very good study. First of all, I will tell you, we do not need 59 MLD now. We are using only 31 MLD, which is sufficient. And in next year, we will be using at least 15% less. Why? Because we are pumping water from Barbil. This water will be surplus. In a way, we are helping other people to utilize more and more water from the same dam wherefrom we are connected. There is no issue. Water is not in short supply because of these two reasons, and God has been very kind. We had very good rains. All of the dams in the vicinity, they are full. There are no problems.
Okay.
I am sure government is taking care of it. No shortage of water.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you for answers.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pinakin from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much, sir. My first question is on costs. There are a lot of moving parts in terms of coking coal, multiple projects coming onstream in the second half. At this point of time, what is the cost guidance for the second half, if you can break it up into coking coal and benefits from the multiple growth projects that are coming onstream?
Yeah. Thank you very much. Cost is always a concern, an area of concern, and each management or manufacturing division, they always want to reduce the cost. First of all, the point here is the coking coal, I will tell you. Yes, the coking coal, the last quarter, we had an impact of about $12-$14. Now for the last couple of days, the coking coal is very stable. We are not expecting too much of variation. Even if it comes, maybe some $10-$15 that we can absorb, no issue. Availability is not at all a problem. Then, we are also having our coking coal mines in Mozambique. The Mozambique mine of ours is doing very well, and we are getting two vessels every month without fail. That is supporting us. The another opening which I feel is likely to come, that is Russia.
Hopefully now the time has come that this war will stop and Black Sea operations will be regular. The moment the Black Sea operations will be regular, then I think Indian steel industry will not have shortage of coal. Already Indian steel industry has reduced its exposure on Australia from 75%-78% to about only 50% today. The Indian industry has shifted towards Mozambique, South Africa, Colombia, Venezuela, and also America and Canada. Now the new coal powerhouse country is Russia.
They are not new, but new after four and a half years or five years. The moment this war stops, the war ends, then everybody will be comfortable. I am sure if this is done in next one or two months time, and they sign a treaty protocol that they will not attack on the vessels, then I think coking coal prices may come down in December or January. Hope I answered your question.
Sir, what are the benefits from the various projects—
I am sorry to interrupt you, sir.
Yes, go ahead.
I am sorry to interrupt you, sir. If you have follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue.
Okay, madam. Let him complete this one.
Okay. Sure.
Yes, please.
What are the benefits that if you can quantify from the various growth projects that the company is bringing onstream, like the slurry pipeline and ramp up of the other mines?
As I told you, the slurry pipeline is going to give us INR 700 per ton on 20,000 tons per day. This is a direct impact. This would be a net profit, and this will definitely recover our cost. The ROI will be very fast. This is a big benefit. Over and above this particular financial benefit, the other benefit is to the public, because all the 700 trucks coming to plant every day. In pipeline, there are 2,000 trucks, so 700 trucks in our company, 700, 2,000 trucks, they are on the road. Another 700 or 600 trucks are for loading. The 2,000 trucks will be off the road. You know the accidents and the fuel consumption, the diesel consumption, the pollution, air pollution, then horn pollution, because in India everybody blows horns.
All the sound pollution, you can say. That will be reduced in the social cause. Government of India is also supporting these particular projects for these reasons. Now the another area is most of the railway rakes today, as per the directives, or as per the requirement of power plants, they are engaged in transporting coal from coal beds to a different part of the country, so that the power availability in the country is stable and there is no increase in the power tariff. Because the whole world today is struggling on power tariffs. Like for example, the electricity cost in Europe today for a domestic user, household user or industrial user, that is ranging from INR 12- INR 1 5 or sometimes INR 18/kwh per unit.
Whereas the Government of India has maintained the overall price level for the domestic users or the commercial institutions to a level of less than INR 8 and maximum maybe INR 10. There is upper cap also. I think it is a good cause, so more and more coal going to power plants means more and more industrial growth and more and more, I would say, helpful to obtain a better life. We are a very small part of that we are trying to reduce the diesel consumption, and we are also trying to make railway rakes spare so that government can utilize these railway rakes basically to transport coal to different destinations in the country. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please limit your question to one per participant. Should you have follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, on the cost inflation, I think in the last quarter you had spelled out about INR 2,000 a ton cost inflation due to West Asia conflict. Sorry, I think it was INR 1,200-INR 1,300 per ton. Could you kind of give the same number for Q2?
Sandeep here. For the coking coal prices, we expect an increase of $20-$25 per ton.
No, I am talking about—
I think the answer. Yeah, please.
Please go ahead.
Please ask your question again.
In the previous Q1 call, you had mentioned that due to the West Asia conflict, there was a cost inflation of $12-$13 a ton, which is INR 1,200 a ton.
Yes, INR 1,200, which is INR 1,300.
Yeah. Could you give us a number for this quarter?
Mr. Sandeep is replying you.
I will give you the last quarter, we had said $12. This quarter we are saying $20 per ton, which will be, we expect an impact on account of the diesel.
Coal cost.
Coking coal.
Sure. This is beyond the coking coal inflation, right? Just to be sure.
No. Coking coal, I would say $20- $25. For the West Asia conflict, which I think you are reflecting more on the diesel and other parts, that was, I think we did not give $1,200, $1,300. We said around $4- $5, and that continued around $4- $5 per ton.
Yes. Basically, what Sandeep is telling, from West Asia, what we are bringing, we are bringing fuel only, either crude or maybe LPG or propane. That impact was a little less for us because we continued working through coal gasification. Yes, the coking coal, there is no control on that. So that was a loss, basically, or input cost had increased. Now, it all depends upon the geopolitical situation. If we feel that United States, they ease out the supply of crude from Iran and also from Russia, then I think the oil prices may come down. If oil prices come down, then industry as a whole will get benefit.
But just for the factor of safety, we are considering that maybe it prolongs and there is no decision taken by superpowers, the two superpowers, I would say, to end this war and to relax the sanctions on Iran and/or on Russia, then there may be an impact of another $20 in times to come. But let us see, because overnight situation changes. The moment we know that the war is going to end, then I think the availability of oil and the gas will increase or will ease out. Next question, please.
And the coking coal $20 is for Q3, the jump that you are talking about, or it generally relates to that?
Yes, Q3.
Okay. Sure. And the INR 700 per ton from the slurry pipeline, by when will it get fully realized?
From tomorrow. Because tomorrow we are going to start the commercial production.
You mean to say that full volume will start flowing immediately?
Yeah, I told you 20,000 tons per day it will bring. 20,000 tons, INR 700 we will be saving per ton.
Okay. Sure. Got it. Thank you. That is all from me.
Thank you.
Thanks, Sandeep.
The next question is from the line of Darshan Mehta from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity. Sir, just wanted to understand whether we would have seen any cost benefit this quarter because of moving from propane to coal gasifier.
Yes.
Hello?
Yeah.
So-
You are right. Yes. I will tell you. Right question. Have you completed the question or yet to be?
Yes. I have other question, but you can give answer of this question, sir.
Yes. You see, the propane prices have gone up to a level of about INR 100/kg/ . And equivalent, when we make coal gas, that is called syngas, then equivalent we were getting in INR 30/kg . So that advantage was INR 70/kg . And that is for the reheating furnaces, especially for the downstream industry. We have the cold rolling mills, galvanizing lines, color coating lines. So these lines, they got benefit out of it.
Okay. And in terms of steel sales, on part-time basis, can you quantify this? Will it be possible for you?
No, it will be very difficult because the balance sheet is consolidated. It is one balance sheet.
Yeah.
Very difficult. But I told you that whatever consumption we were doing, we are getting an advantage of INR 70/ kg.
Okay. But at some point, you will again move to propane. Let's say if things normalize, you would again like to move to propane being a cleaner fuel. Is the understanding correct or?
No. We will not move to now propane. We are taking the taste of a better chocolate, so we will not leave it.
Okay.
So we will continue. Because we have done all those changes. It is not one-to-one replacement that we switch on, switch off. We have done all those changes in our burner system, automation system, so that we can accommodate the coal gas, or you can say syngas. So now again going back on propane, then it will take shutdown, and then we have to incur cost, and then why to use the heavy priced fuel. All these fossil fuels like propane, LPG, or natural gas, these will always be imported in the country. I think the country's domestic users need it more than what we need it today.
Understood, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajesh Majumdar from 360 ONE Capital . Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I just wanted to know a couple of things. One is, what is the proportion of TMT bars you've sold in the quarter? What is the drop in the realization thereof? What is the impact on the pricing change in the last one month in TMT bars? That was the first question.
Yeah. First question, let me reply. Historically, we were doing about 20% of our total production, we were selling through TMT route. TMT was not doing very good in last quarter. We increased the volume of hot rolled coil and reduced the volume of TMT. TMT now we are selling only to the major projects. We are not selling for the retail market in that proportion that we used to do it. I would say that now we are making only 120,000 tons per month of TMT, and earlier we were making 220,000 tons. 100,000 tons TMT, whatever the steel was going to be utilized for TMT, that we are now utilizing in flat products. That is for plates as well as for hot rolled coils. What was your next question? Sorry.
Yeah. My second question was, sir, since your ASP has generally been unchanged largely due to the higher share of flats, the last month increase in realizations we have seen mostly in the rebar side will not impact significantly in the coming quarter? Or do you feel that this quarter all realizations can improve a little bit sequentially? Yeah.
Yes. We feel that quarter three and quarter four will be better. Historically, quarter two used to be very bad because of rainy season, constructions were at very low level. Cement and steel, I mean the rebars, they will always suffer in Q2. But now Q3 is very optimistic. It is a festival season. The building construction in the country going very well. We had seen and experienced very good rains. That means more and more construction steel will be utilized. Now the prices are also, I would say, if any compare, construction steel, that is rebar and hot rolled coil, so they are almost similar. Maybe INR 1,000 here and there. There is not much of difference. I think Q3 and Q4 will be much better.
In terms of EBITDA per ton because of overall cost—
Yeah. In terms of—
Yeah.
In terms of EBITDA per ton.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raashi from Citi. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just on the realizations, how did the flat realizations move in the last quarter, and how did longs realizations move?
Raashi?
Yes.
Yes. This is first question from a lady. There will be first answer also from a lady. Our Chief of Marketing, Ms. Roopali Mehra will reply you. Please.
Thank you.
Hi, Raashi. Thanks for the question. In terms of TMT, while the realizations were down, because monsoon, as also our MD just mentioned, Q2 is typically not a good season for TMT sales because of lower construction. The prices in HRC had strengthened, but that strengthening had come towards the end of quarter two, which was primarily August and September. We would see better realization impact in quarter three. As far as TMT is concerned, as again, you just got to know that TMT prices also are now at a similar price level to HRC at this point in time. But the construction will pick up, and the overall change of TMT went from INR 52,000- INR 59,000, and that of HRC went from INR 51,000- INR 60,000. That was the kind of change that we saw in Q2.
Would you be able to quantify the spot versus Q2 average for both?
In terms of the spot prices, today we are doing spot of HRC and TMT around INR 60. That is the spot prices. HRC is little over INR 60 and TMT has just reached there. In terms of Q1, if you were to compare the spot prices in Q1, actually ranged in HRC for about INR 54- INR 53, which is now towards September at INR 59. For TMT, the spot prices actually in the beginning of quarter one were around INR 56 and came down all the way to INR 45. Now, which is at around INR 60 this time.
You meant quarter two, right? INR 56.
Yeah. Quarter two now. Yeah.
Okay. Got it. Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Any other question, please?
The next question is from the line of Manav Gogia from Aditya Birla Capital Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening. Thanks for the opportunity. First question is on the other expenses. If you take a look, there is a 13% quarter-on-quarter jump. Would it be possible for you to let me know what the major reasons were behind this, and how should one take a look at for the rest of the year?
Manav, the other expenses includes, just to give the background, we have a coking coal and iron ore, which got classified into raw material. Other expenses by nature looks like other expenditure, but if you see the total P&L, almost 30% is sitting in the other expenditure. Other expenditure largely comprise of your store spares, repair maintenance, operational maintenance, freight, selling expenditure, all these are there. Accordingly, as I said in my opening remarks as well, there has been increase in the freight expenditure, especially on the Middle East crisis and the diesel increase. That is also one of the key bucket for the increase in my overall other expenditure. O&M and repair maintenance store spares have been in line with my volume.
If you see the techno-economics remain in the quarter two, bit on account of monsoon, bit higher consumption, that has also impacted our other expenditure. I think it will get rationalized as we see the monsoon behind it in the Q3. So it should not be as elevated as has been this quarter. It should be normalized in the subsequent quarters.
Understood. So basically freight accounting for the majority of it, right?
Yeah.
Perfect. The second question—
Power and fuel also which has been a major bucket into that.
Got it. The other question is, would it be possible to give me what was the value-added mix for this quarter? I think the presentation doesn't mention it. Last quarter we did 66%, if I'm not wrong.
57% was the value-added product mix during this quarter.
57% or 67%? Sorry.
57%.
Okay.
Yeah, I will tell you. I will tell you. You are also right, and my colleague Sandeep is also right. 57% because when we compare apple to apple, but when we moved from a low price TMT to high price other products, then it is more than 65%.
Understood. Yeah. Thank you so much, sir. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bhavin Chheda from ENAM Holdings. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir. Just a few questions. First on, what is the current pellet production run rate at the company, and do we sell any merchant pellets in the market? Because I think in the past we used to give that data, but now since this data is not available, if you can highlight on that. I believe there was one pellet plant also was supposed to get commissioned this fiscal. So what's the status on that?
Yes. Thank you. Your memory is correct. We used to sell a lot of pellets. But after having installed the blast furnace number two, we are short of metallics now. So we make about 18,000 tons-20,000 tons in Barbil from two plants, and we make about 14,000 tons from our Angul plant. So in a way, we are making about 33,000 tons pellets every day. All these 33,000 pellets is consumed in-house. There's no problem. We don't sell anything. Rather, sometimes we buy pellets from market. It is other way around. Like for example, last month, since most of the iron ore mines were drenched into water, it was difficult to do the mining. So we have bought pellets from the market. Then the next, all the three plants are doing extremely well.
We are making good quality of pellets, which is helping us in taking out good production. As far as the new pellet plant is concerned, yes, it is on the way. On the way means it has come up. Hopefully by June next year, this will be fully commissioned. So by March, we will be doing the complete installation, and maybe end of March or early April, we'll start our trials. June it should be in commercial production. Hope everything is answered.
Yeah. My second question was—
I am sorry to interrupt you, sir. If you have follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue.
Okay. Just one more, if I can go about it.
Please go ahead.
Yeah. My second question was on the difference between the consolidated results and the standalone results. Both on the turnover and the EBITDA, the console was much higher than the normal run rate, what we see in the past quarters. What is the incremental on the turnover side as well as the EBITDA side in the consolidate numbers?
You see, we have 100% subsidiary Jindal Steel Odisha Limited, and as the major of the projects got commissioned in the first quarter, their turnover and EBITDA both have been an increasing trend. You will see this difference getting increased as we go into the quarters because their EBITDA and volume both will keep increasing. At the same time, our overseas subsidiary in the Mozambique also had a better EBITDA compared to the last year, YoY, given the better coal prices.
Okay. Thank you Sandeep .
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, two questions quick. One, is it possible to share what the blended price increase for us quarter-on-quarter and how much power we have sold in this quarter? Because we have commissioned 1,050 MW power plant and though we have surplus power available. Is it possible to quantify some numbers on power sale as well as our price increase in this one? Secondly, in October, are we seeing our sales volume run rate of around 1 million ton? Because that is what is required to achieve our lower end of the sales volume guidance of something like 10.5 million ton. Thank you.
Ashish, I will answer the first question. I think whatever the information we give in the ASP, which can be given in the investor deck, we will continue to stick to it. As for the second question, I think you asked three questions, but within the first A, AB, AA given, AB answer about your power. Any steel plant will have the power capacity. At the same time, when the steel production takes the shutdown plant and other thing, they will keep having the surplus power. So that surplus power will anyway getting basically sold in the market. But in the overall scheme of things, almost a INR 1 lakh crore of the revenue, which Sharma-ji said will going to be achieved, and that is the minuscule number. So I think that we should factor into.
Second, your run rate, which you are saying for achieving for the next quarter and remaining part of the year for getting the lower end of the guidance. On the sellable basis, it should be 9 lakh ton- 9.5 lakh ton per month. We should be able to achieve the guidance, and we are very sure and comfortable to achieve those guidance given the monsoon season, everything gone behind us. All the plants are fully ramped up. Sharma-ji always make you count for the day basis, and he's been answering on the day basis, and I'm still learning in the steel industry. On a day basis, we are actually yesterday also exceeded our near to the design capacity. I think it gives us the confidence that we should be in the mid-range of the guidance. I hope, Ashish, you recall me and remember me and—
Yeah. Obviously. Obviously, Sandeep. Thank you so much for this. Thank you.
We can take few more questions available. We are out of time, but we can take few more questions if it is there.
Yes. The next question is from the line of Sumangal from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening. My first question is, if you could update us with the status of the 2 million ton DRI plant, which is expected to come timeline. Utkal B2 mine, I think that is the last mine which is yet to be commissioned. So where are the approvals and the timeline? Lastly, we got the answer of spot prices, which is around INR 60,000. Just want to understand what is the average which we saw in 2Q because we shared the range of prices from starting to end of the quarter. But average would help us to understand how the spot is versus average. Thanks.
Yes. So DRI plant first. The DRI plant will be commissioned again in June 2027. This has already come up. There are certain equipments which are imported. Because of the shipping issues and all these things, this may delay. But June, yes, will be in production. The next question was?
ASP, this overall NSR average versus the spot prices.
The spot prices, though it is very difficult to tell because when we compare with the index in the country like BigMint or Fastmarkets, those are the numbers. All these people, they are reporting the numbers. So telling an exact price will be difficult on a public platform because it attracts something unethical practices because the market picks up those numbers and whether up or down, and the market starts behaving accordingly.
So average we have already given you that in last three months time what we have done. HRC from INR 51,000- INR 60,000. The TMT was somewhere about again INR 52,000- INR 60,000. The structure was ranging from INR 60,000- INR 65,000. Rails were more than INR 70,000. So these are the some approximate numbers which on a public platform we can share. Sorry, we cannot tell the exact numbers today t hat will be against the policy of company and against the interest of our customers.
Sure. What about the Utkal B2 coal mine?
This is now the procedure is going on. I cannot say the date, because sometimes many things are in the hands of government. There is no obstacle. There are certain clearances what we have to obtain. I think it should come in this financial year. Not a problem.
Understood. Thank you, sir, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec India. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, first is on external power sales. Would it be possible to quantify the number at the EBITDA level, just to better appreciate our operating profits? That is one clarification. Second, Sharma-ji, if you could highlight something on DRI, the next phase. I would presume that there will be a CGP backed along with it. Are we getting any specific linkages from the government? And there is a government scheme, I think INR 37,500 crore. Is this project a part of it? If yes, what is the element of incentive or subsidy do we expect from the government? Thank you.
Okay. On power sale, our CFO will reply you. On the other points, CGP and DRI. Yes, first of all, we are getting benefit from central government on this project. For the installation of DRI plant as well as coal-based DRI plant, coal gas base, and as well as for coal gasification. We are expanding our capacity of coal gasification. So three more gasifiers, which is having capacity of 35,000 Nm³ per hour each. That means 105,000 Nm³ per hour that is being installed. Fortunately, in this time, all these gasification plant is being done at least 95% with the indigenous components. I would say it is all made in India project. Nothing imported, barring some 5%-7% of very critical components which India does not manufacture. This is what we are aiming. The gasifiers are being built in India.
One of the gasifiers is being built in our company itself, that is in Raipur Machinery Division. Other two gasifiers we are building in Godrej, Mumbai. This is what we are aiming to, and hopefully, these will be commissioned by June, and the DRI also will be commissioned by June. On power sale, I request our CFO to reply.
Hi. As I replied to Ashish as well, in case of any large steel company, there will be a power generation from the captive power plant, and there will be the opportunity for selling in the market, depending upon the steel production demand and the supply. However, these are on the INR 100 crore kind of turnover company. It is a very minuscule number to be taken into.
Sure, Sandeep. Sharma-ji, any update on linkage, if at all from the government, because I presume government is open, encouraging gasifiers. Will we be a beneficiary over there? If not for this linkage, what is the plan for the feed?
There is no problem. First of all, yes, you are right. Government is open to provide coal and with the exemption of 50% of royalty. This is one. Secondly, from our own mines also, we will be in a position to feed the coal gasification. No problem.
Yeah. Thank you so much. All the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. This question was more of a request on the annual report disclosures. I think we are just giving one line item for raw materials consumed. Some of the other companies actually do give a more breakup of the iron ore coking coal. It would be helpful for us if you could probably share that in the next annual report going ahead. The reason I'm stating this is— Yeah, sorry, you were saying something.
Pallav-ji, thanks for your suggestion. You may connect offline with Vishal for getting the factual detail. However, we take your point, and we'll do a better, or more disclosures, in case of any other annual report.
Sure. Yeah. Thanks for that, Sandeep. The reason I'm asking is because in the footnotes to the raw material consumed, the captive royalty premium amount is pretty significant. I just want to understand whether the benefits of lower captive coal, part of that is offset by higher auction premium or royalty premium that we pay. Net-net, are we still better off with captive coal compared to external sources, or is the difference not very material?
I can give you the directionally answer. We are better off compared to that because in earlier calls also we have mentioned 2% of the SMS cost level we have a benefit compared for the on account of the captive coal mines. That is the directionally I am giving the ballpark number. At the same time for the captive iron ore mines, I think there's a two way to look at. One, you are looking at the financial impact numbers. Second is to having the backward integration and having the raw material security. As Mr. Sharma was saying, when there was a heavy monsoon, heavy rainfalls, and the sliding in case of other OMC mines, we were not able to get materials. The Kasia, our own mines, only helped us to continue the production.
And that is why you see during this quarter, Kasia consumption was 33% compared to last quarter, 25%. That has helped us to improve the overall steel production and earn the better EBITDA and the revenue. We record the best ever quarterly revenue and second best on the quarter basis. I think that part has to be balanced rather than looking just on the financial number.
Sure. That point is well appreciated, Sir. Sir, lastly, if you could just give an idea what is the balance CapEx. You already incurred a significant portion. Out of a total CapEx plan of about INR 47,000 crore, how much is now left?
On the INR 47,000 crore of the CapEx number, we have around INR 8,000-INR 9,000 crore available for the remaining like plant DRI-2 and other things to be completed and at the same time some pending payments which will be linked to the performance. That is the number available. But for this year we continue to remain in the stated guidance of INR 7,500 crore- INR 10,000 crore. During the H1 we were, as I said, INR 3,400 crore spent.
Sure. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. That was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for all of the people, those who are attending this particular conference. We have tried our best to give the answers of each and every question. May not be 100%, may be 90% or 92%. But in case there is any other question you may reach to Vishal and he can reply by mail because each and everything cannot be clarified. But one thing which is missing, but you will see in our balance sheet that our debt to EBITDA ratio has now come down to 1.5x. Perhaps this is one of the best ratio in the industry today. People used to have somewhere 4:1, 3:1, 2.5:1 and last quarter we were at level about 1.71: 1 and now it is 1.5x. This is a remarkable achievement.
The company is today in the grace of God and the support of our employees, people and the support of our Board. We are today cash surplus. There is no issue. Again, I repeat, we are not in the race of putting millions of tons of plant overnight. We are still following the same philosophy, earn and invest. We do not want to invest money unless we reach to our 100% capacity utilization. The moment we are near to 100% capacity utilization, then we will review within our management whether we have to do something or not. But till that time, we want to maintain our health and we want to continue as a responsible steel conglomerate or business house. The manpower is stable. There are no churning.
The people from the middle management and upper middle management, those who are at a level about AGM, DGM, general managers, AVPs, Assistant Vice Presidents, they are being elevated to take the higher responsibilities. There is very positive atmosphere in the organization. Fortunately, in last couple of months, there is no exodus from the organization and the people are very much stable. But yes, of course, some people will always leave the organization, and that is natural. Some new people will always come. But we have no issue on account of any manpower shortage. This is what I wanted to assure you. With the support of all of you, we are very much confident that in times to come, we will do much more better and we may exceed to your expectations. So thank you for your support always. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.