Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Paradeep Phosphates Limited Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call hosted by Antique Stock Broking 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 would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Manish Mahawar from Antique Stock Broking Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yes. Thank you, Manav. I am pleased to host today's earning call of Paradeep Phosphates. We have leadership team represented by Mr. Rajeev Nambiar, Joint MD and CEO, Mr. Harshdeep Singh, President and Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Bijoy Biswal, CFO, and Mr. Alok Saxena, Head Corporate Finance and IR, on the call. Without further ado, I would like to hand over the call to Mr. Nambiar for opening comments. After which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, Rajeev, sir.
Thank you, Manish. Good morning to everyone who has participated in this call. We welcome to Paradeep Phosphates earning call for the quarter one. I appreciate your time and interest in your company. I trust you have seen our earnings presentation and press release, which have been circulated and are available on our website and stock exchange. Let me take an overview. I am happy to report that PPL has once again delivered a very strong financial and operational performance and a best-in-class EBITDA per ton. Many congratulations to all of you. Despite the prevailing global uncertainties led by Middle East crisis, which resulted in sharp escalation and volatility in raw material prices as well as availability, PPL delivered a very strong performance on the strength of its existing supply chain efficiency, sourcing diversification strategy for key raw materials, and pan-India marketplace selling and distribution capabilities.
With this performance, the company has been able to further strengthen its leadership position in the phosphoric fertilizer sector. In Q1, revenue from operations increased 36% YOY to INR 6,124 crore. EBITDA rose 25% to INR 742 crore. PBT increased by 24% to INR 526 crore. PAT stood at INR 393 crore. Sales volume grew by 4% to 9.85 lakh tons, just close to a million tons sale. During the quarter, full benefit of expanded capabilities of sulfuric acid was available to us, due to which the sulfuric acid production was higher by 32% on a YOY basis. Phosphoric acid production was higher by 7% on a YOY, reflecting the strength of our backward integrations benefits in phosphoric and sulfuric acid and helped us to improve our quality of earnings.
Our key expansion project of phosphoric expansion, that is phase I from 5 lakh ton - 7 lakh ton at Khurda is on track. I'm happy to report that the board of PPL in its Q1 meeting approved the investment proposal of INR 250 crore for setting up Aluminum Fluoride plant at our Paradeep facility. The proposed investment aligns with company's strategic objective to enter and diversify into related industrial chemical space and will build and strengthen company's non-fertility portfolio in due course. The proposed investment is a reinforcement of our manufacturing excellence capability by having a by-product converted into value-added products. These investments in specialty or industrial chemical will further augment our endeavor to create long-term value for our shareholders. Looking ahead, we remain in the challenging time in the Middle East situation. We have seen high volatility and availability challenge for key raw materials and particularly sulfur.
As you're aware, 70%-75% of global trade of sulfur and ammonia cross the Strait of Hormuz. The supply disruptions for these commodities are expected to continue in short term. Despite these uncertainties, industry is making concerted efforts. Empowered committee comprising of government and senior industrial officials working in close coordination to ensure fertilizer security for the nation and the farmers. PPL remain committed to drive growth in its challenging time through focused operational discipline. Thanking you once again, I now open the floor for questions.
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 touch- tone 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'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We have our first question from the line of Prashant Biyani from Elara Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on great numbers. Rajeev, for Q2, how are we placed on sourcing of raw materials? Whether at these prices of sulfur are we willing to continue to buy and manufacture acid, or is it worthwhile now to buy acid and use it for manufacturing of fertilizers.
Thank you, Prashant. As you're aware, the prices have definitely gone up in the current situation, we are constantly looking the various opportunities where we are able to bring efficiency into the supply chain. With the phosphoric acid and the sulfur going up, there is a strain in our overall working philosophy. We are also scouting from various sources, and some support extra coming out of the ammonia price reductions. We are hopeful there actually with the production dipping today, to a large extent we are able to operate around 70% of phosphoric capacity. Moving ahead, I am sure actually there will be some sort of added support which we expect from the government.
Prashant, just to share with you, we are also augmenting through imported DAP and NPK. We have a robust pipeline as far as the Rabi season is concerned, where we're augmenting our products through imported product line.
Sure, sir. Sir, on the AlF3 or Aluminum Fluoride side, if you can share some details regarding when the plant can be operational, how much would be the per ton realization, and also EBITDA per ton.
Prashant, the plant capacity is going to be around 15,000 tons per annum.
Yes.
Okay. We expect at least a top line of INR 180 crore to INR 200 crore coming out of this facility. We are currently looking quite optimistic about getting this plant commissioned within 22 months-24 months. The basic engineering work is currently in progress, and we are also getting ready for the sourcing strategy, what is the right sourcing strategy for Aluminum Fluoride. As on today, looking at the market, we don't see major challenge in terms of a B2B sale, and expecting at least an INR 50 crore of EBITDA which is coming out of this.
Right. Sir, lastly, before I jump back to the queue. Sir, on the trading volume side, what was the traded DAP and NPK for this quarter?
Prashant, we will tell you the numbers.
We'll just get back to you, Prashant, okay. With that number.
Sure. I'll jump back to the queue.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Riju from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Regarding the volume-
Sorry to interrupt you, Riju. Your voice is breaking. Can you please move to-
Hello
a better reception area?
Hello.
Hello?
Yeah, Riju.
No, we can't hear you, Riju. Riju? May we please request you to rejoin the queue and come again for the questions?
Hello.
Thank you.
Hello.
We have our next question from the line of Aman Kothari from Aequitas Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much. Firstly, congratulations on the wonderful set of results. My first question would be around the mix that we saw this quarter. We saw a 55% growth in DAP volumes and NPK volume de-growth of 9%. Why was NPK de-growth for the first quarter and is it a mix that's going to be maintained going ahead for the full part of the year?
Good morning. I think two, three important things. The way you look at, yes, there is a significant growth of DAP, that was more like a tactical shift because from a policy perspective, the profitability of DAP appears significantly better compared to the NPK. As far as the market strategy is concerned, the focus on NPK continues. As far as farmer sales are concerned, we grew our NPK portfolio by 6%. NPK farmer sales are up, but as a primary strategy, in line with the sign of optimizing profitability, we have focused more on the DAP in the Q1.
6%. Is there no price hike that we took on-
Sorry to interrupt you, Aman. We are unable to hear you properly.
Hello, am I audible now?
Yeah.
My question was, sir, NPK, we saw a volume de-growth of 9%, but still you said the portfolio grew by 6%. Is it because of some price hike that we took?
No, that is because of the farmer, the trade stocks, the post-sales grew by 6%. That is one thing. That growth as far as farmer is maintained. Of course, we have taken a significant price increase in the NPK portfolio in order to maintain our profitability. Just to give you an example, a bag of DAP today sells at INR 1,350 a bag, whereas the complexes range from INR 2,100 - INR 2,500 a bag. There's a significant difference for a farmer because of the way the current policy is. We have ensured that we pass on the increase partially to the customer, and we expect government also to address partially the cost increase which has happened.
Got it. Sir, just last question before joining back in the queue is, in terms of building our non-subsidized portfolio, Aluminum Fluoride is something that we are going up ahead with. Do you see that this Aluminum Fluoride would be catering to which industry? There is a clear demarcation between a lower grade and higher grade. What is it that we are targeting?
Mainly, it is going to target the Odisha area where aluminum industry is there.
Okay.
We have done our study properly, and we feel actually being a strategic player in Odisha, we should be in a position actually to, without much greater difficulty, should be able to market it and sell and market it.
Got it. Thank you, sir. I'll just join back in the queue.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Sucrit Patil from IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon to the team. First of all, congratulations on a good set of quarter. My first question to Mr. Nambiar is, beyond the regular outlook, just want to understand what are the top two to three execution priorities you are focusing on in the next few quarters. Alongside that, what do you see as the biggest risk in demand shifts or competitive pressures, and how are you preparing to manage them while sustaining Paradeep's position in the fertilizer stream? That's my first question. I'll ask my second question after this. Thank you.
If you look at it, one clear signal we have given in this quarter, one is there's a tactical shift towards profitable product is coming. We have got a long-term view in terms of NPK, which is very strong, and all the capacity augmentation which is also going to happen has got a huge thrust coming out of NPK. We know this is unprecedented time in our business, which is coming out of the conflict in both Ukraine side as well as in Hormuz side. We can't be just sticking to what exactly we've done. This is a small-term tactical shift is going to come. We still explore actually whichever the products which we can manufacture and happy to report that actually we are one of the company who has got maximum product portfolio capability to manufacture in our facilities.
That definitely we will be leveraging it. Wherever the price advantage comes because our supply chain logistics is quite strong in terms of resourcing facility, we will be exploring various areas where we can optimize the supply chain. Coupled with our coming capacity expansion, both phosphoric acid as well as the big expansion which is expected in 2029, 2030, these are the three to four areas we will be concentrating in the coming two to three quarters.
Thank you. My second question to Mr. Singh is, on the commercial side, what are the key priorities you are driving in terms of market expansion, pricing, and customer engagement, and what risk do you see in the distribution or regulatory framework, and how are you preparing to mitigate them? Thank you.
Good morning. There are two, three priorities. One is from a future-looking priority as a market development. We are building up a portfolio of high nutrient use efficient products in the portfolio. Which is our nano category, and we're growing significantly into that category. As far as the market is concerned, apart from the current supply chain risk, there is also a challenge as far as the monsoon was concerned. However, July has been a good month for the rainfall. How we're trying to address the market requirement is the balancing between our NPK and DAP portfolio. DAP, the demand remains quite robust because of the price point which the government has kept per bag of DAP. If you see our growth, both the farmer sales and the primary sales, we had a significant growth.
If you look at the farmer sales, I think the industry growth for phosphate in NPK has been around 1%. We as a company, we have grown around 15%, 16%. We maintain our leadership position as far as market is concerned. We also maintain our leadership position as far as product pricing is concerned. We are very conscious that we are going to drive growth, which is profitable. That's how our market share behaves today in the coming.
Thank you, and best wishes.
Hello?
Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you for your guidance. I wish the best of luck.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Riju from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Hope I'm audible now. My question is regarding the sales volume data that you have reported. In the PPT, slide four, we have seen that the total fertilizer volume is 9.85 lakh ton. Right. But if we calculate the product-wise detail, that is DAP, NPK, urea, TSP, and MOP, the count is coming at roughly around 10.03 lakh ton. Just want to understand the math here.
I think you would have counted the Zypmite sales probably into it. If you consider the DAP, NPK, MOP, that is around 9.85 lakh metric ton. If you also consider the Zypmite, which is a soil conditioner, then you're right, it's a million ton plus. That's around 15,000 tons of Zypmite sales. If you add both of them, it will be a million.
Understood, sir. Understood.
Understood. Sir, in terms of the sulfur capacity that we have right now, the excess capacity, how are we selling that? I think we might be selling it to outside. How much additional EBITDA that we can make from that sulfuric acid by selling to the outside as of now?
Bijoy will tell you.
Right now, we have completely utilized the sulfuric acid capacity. No, we are not selling outside right now. Entire thing is consumed by our fertilizer facilities.
No, sir. My question is regarding at the Paradeep facility, we have expanded the sulphuric acid capacity from 1.4 to roughly around 2 million metric ton. The fourth acid capacity that will come in the 2Q of FY 2027. The excess sulphuric acid capacity, how you are utilizing that?
I will explain you. We don't have any excess capacity of sulphuric acid in Paradeep. Even if it happens, it could be some fluctuations on a short-term duration might be happening. If you look at it, sulphuric acid we are using not only for the phosphoric acid production, also N20 being a sulfur-dominated product, a lot amount of sulfur goes there also. As in today, if you ask me, actually, we don't have an excess capacity on a sustainable basis from Paradeep. Obviously, there's some smaller quantity here and there we might be trading, but it's not a significant thing at all.
Understood, sir. In terms of the power generation, the co-power generation from sulfur to sulphuric acid, are we selling any excess power to the grid as of now in this quarter or maybe in last quarter?
Last quarter we have sold at beginning, because of the fluctuations in terms of sulfur, sulphuric acid availability, we have not done much, the facility is available for that.
Sir, one last thing in terms of the urea. The Goa urea facility, I think the GCal improvement happened in the last quarter. How much EBITDA per ton that we have been able to achieve this quarter? Also in terms of MCFL urea plant, the EBITDA, the benefit that we are getting as per the old policy that might have expired in last year. How we should look at in terms of EBITDA per ton for the MCFL plant as well for urea?
Regarding the urea policy, I think it has been notified. The new urea policy has been notified yesterday. We are evaluating that policy. If you look at the policy and vis-à-vis the energy benchmark, what we have right now, in Goa, the impact will be around INR 1,500 per metric ton positive.
Okay.
There will be a reduction in Bangalore of around INR 700 - INR 800 per metric ton based on the new urea energy policy. This energy improvement, what we are talking, we have invested, and this has been completed and it has been capitalized and it has started getting the benefit from this year, this quarter. Energy has been reduced by 0.2 GCal on a urea production basis for this year.
Sir, accrued benefit in terms of EBITDA for that?
0.2 means right now, due to this energy impact will be INR 1,000 per metric ton.
Okay. Over a normalized basis, can we expect that it might have improved by roughly around INR 700 - INR 800 per ton at the EBITDA level for Goa urea?
In the Q1, yes, you can assume.
Yes.
Understood, sir. Thanks for clarifying all my questions.
Okay.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Parth Sodha from Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Am I audible? Hello? Hello.
Yes, sir. We can hear you.
Thank you. First of all, thank you for the opportunity. My question is, over the medium or long term, what percentage of EBITDA do you believe will come from non-subsidy business such as industrial chemicals?
Can you repeat the question?
We continue to focus on fertilizer, as we said earlier, the sustainable EBITDA guidance that we gave is ₹5,000 at the moment, which when we complete our backward integration, everything should be improved by 30%-35%. As far as the non-subsidy portion is concerned, I think that will take some time to evolve. Over a period of time, the long-term vision is that at least 20% of the EBITDA should be supported through non-subsidy route. That's a long-term target that we have kept for ourselves.
Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Madhur Rathi from Counter Cyclical Investments. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, I wanted to understand currently how much of raw material for this Aluminum Fluoride, the FSA is currently produced in-house, and what are we doing to that? Are we selling it outside or are we incurring some effluent treatment charges? If you could help us understand on that front.
Currently we are producing around 9,000 tons- 10,000 tons per annum, and all these quantities are sold to outside parties. Okay. The whole crux of our investment is actually how do we make sure that we get much higher value from what we've been selling as a raw material to other parties.
Got it. Sir, if you could help us understand, because it seems that this product is very critical to aluminum smelters. How is the criticality of this product? Sir, have the validation started for this product, or will there be a gestation period for the 24-month commissioning of this plant?
No, good. Basically, we are just starting actually. The board has given a go ahead, and we just started the engineering. Engineering, construction, and commissioning should be 22 months- 24 months. We don't see any challenge in terms of the marketability or sellability of this product.
I thought it is getting sold even.
Just to add to Mr. Nambiar, a lot of work has gone in background before we took it to the board. Everything is established. We just need to complete the project in next 24 months and get it rolling.
Also to your understanding, there are a lot of import happening in this particular product. With this, we should be able to make sure that the Indian manufacturing setup is able to complement and reduce the import of Aluminum Fluoride.
Yes, sir. My question was on similar lines because of all these imports are of a different specification versus what it would be that Paradeep Phosphates would manufacture. Will it require some gestation period with the smelting customers for testing out our product and then verify?
No, it won't be actually.
It won't require any gestation period.
It is readily marketable.
Yeah.
Got it. Sir, how much capacity can we increase? Because we are manufacturing 10,000 metric tons of FSA, how much can we extend this 15,000 metric ton of capacity to?
15,000.
Fifteen.
We are currently designing in 15. Why 15 is because the expanded capacity we are expecting within two years, we should be in a position actually to utilize entire hydrofluorosilicic acid through Aluminum Fluoride.
Okay, got it. Sir, that was from my end. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Dhruv Muchhal from HDFC AMC. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thank you. Sir, few questions. Firstly, on the traded, can you share the traded volumes this quarter, ex of urea?
Yeah, the traded volumes which we've done is total 1.25 lakh metric ton, including MOP, TSP, DAP. The major imports which are coming, the arrival are happening in July, August, and September.
Perfect.
We have almost secured around half a million tons of imports for the Rabi season. Yeah.
Okay. Sir, now what we're seeing right now, for example, the shift in our higher sales of DAP and relatively lower sales of NPK. I'm just trying to understand how does this work in the market. As a structural strategy, it is the market wants to shift towards NPK. It seems that's the push, given the better profitability and also better farm economics, probably better for the farmer. These raw material supply chain issues, the government policy reactions, and all those creates this disruption. I'm just trying to understand, say for example, the farmer shifting to DAP today was an NPK buyer earlier. How soon does he come back to NPK if the price is normalized? What kind of resistance does that happen? These kind of policy then otherwise you have this disruption, then the movement towards NPK then probably becomes slow.
I'm just trying to understand how does this move and how do you see this?
Two, three things I think. First is fundamental. See, the entire market development effort and our farmer engagement effort is to create awareness of the balanced fertilization, which is basically phosphate, potash, micronutrient, and even organic carbon, which is very essential from the agriculture context. As far as the short-term context is concerned, see, farmer, we've done most of our awareness campaigns shifting him from conventional straight, let's say, DAP fertilizer to an NPK mix. Currently, the difference is quite stark between NPK prices and the DAP prices, and hence the farmer shift which is there. A lot of farmers, especially in South India where the awareness levels are much higher, they still continue using the NPK portfolio. We see still NPK as a dominant category.
Yes, as far as the current season is concerned, and maybe Rabi, as long as the urea and DAP prices are held at a special price for the farmers, you will see a shift happening as far as uptake of DAP is concerned. I don't see that as a fundamental concern from an overall strategy perspective. Farmers are aware about the use of the balanced fertilization. If you look at even a fertilizer like potash, where the government support is very minimal, and the prices are almost as high as INR 2,200 a bag. Very aware farmers for cash crop, they're still using potash, though the price is quite high.
Right. I was just wondering from the pace of shift towards NPK, does it slow it down or the movement can be back again quickly?
it will be back again quickly if the price equation is addressed. As long as the DAP, NPK are within the price range of INR 200 a bag, I think the shift can happen very quickly.
Sure.
Currently, it's quite stark. Almost INR 1,000 a bag difference.
Sir, the other question was on the expansion plan, the phos-acid and probably the NPK granulation expansion. Any change in plans given what is happening or that remains on track? I believe last time when we spoke in the call, you mentioned the equipment ordering is pending. I'm just trying to understand where are we there.
Okay, Dhruv. If you see, none of the plants are getting changed because of the short-term turbulence what we're experiencing. That's good news for all of us. Second thing is the phosphoric expansion, what earlier we said is about 5 lakh - 6 lakh, will become a reality by this December. The six to seven is also going to happen mostly by August, September next year. Related to the bigger expansion of the 3 lakh ton of phosphoric as well as sulfuric acid, that's also going on as per what we have planned. Almost we are in the final commercial discussion is going on. All those expansion projects are going in a normal way irrespective of what's happening around us.
Got it. Great. Thank you so much, and all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Saumil Shah from Paras Investments. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I want to ask last quarter, EBITDA per ton was somewhere around INR 5,300. What is the EBITDA per ton in this quarter? Have you started seeing benefits of the backward integration?
This quarter, EBITDA is around INR 7,000 per metric ton. In the last year, in the same quarter, it was around INR 6,500. This increase is mainly on account of the stock what we have got at the beginning of this year. That has really played out, and this has given this increase in the EBITDA margin. If you look at it, our backward integration of sulfuric acid, which is happening both Bangalore as well as Paradeep. Both are actually running the full stream. Coupled with the inventory, which we had able to harness within our system in terms of raw material inventory, coupled with the backward integration started coming up.
Okay. Can this INR 7,000 range sustain for the current quarter as well?
No. We feel actually a realistic EBITDA for a year should be around INR 5,000. Once we complete our expansion projects, what I explained earlier, we should be in a position that we have a sustainable INR 7,000 +.
Okay. That would be by when?
It could come in phases, actually. You can take it as two to two and a half years.
Okay. Just one follow-up. You alluded to the previous participant that our phosphoric acid plants' incremental capacity from 5 lakh -6 lakh tons will be by when?
By this December.
Okay. What is the current capacity utilization for this plant?
This is almost 100%.
We are confident of achieving this 1 lakh additional by Q4 of this year?
Yeah. The execution is already going on. Equipments are also ordered, started getting equipments.
Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you, all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Dev Gulwani from Care PMS. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir, despite industry phosphatic fertilizer volume being flat this quarter, company is able to grow 13% volume YoY. What is company doing different than peers that we are able to gain this market share?
If you look at the overall market strategy, we focused in north, east, west, and south in a very balanced way. We are very strong in west and south, but the overall strategy is to have a kind of balance across the key markets of India. That gives us advantage, especially when there is a demand effect because of every scenario. That's one strength. Second is the lot of market development efforts as far as the brand is concerned. Jai Kisaan Navratna and Jai Kisaan Mangla are strong brands, and enjoy a lot of trust with the farmers. That gives us advantage as far as the off take and the phos is concerned. These are two fundamental things that we do. Our portfolio also, we have kept the flexibility between organizing the range of portfolio. It's urea, DAP, NPKs.
The complete mix is available in terms of solutions to the farmer. That gives the edge to the company.
Okay. How OCP is helping in securing raw material during this current tough situation?
That has been one of our key strengths compared to many other players. We don't face any serious issue or any issue at all in terms of our rock availability. That also in much superior quality rock availability, and acid also. The rock and acid, to a large extent, at least, we don't have any major issue other than some smaller supply chain issue which might come up. I think overall, because of very good planning of raw materials, we have been able to create that uncertainty to our strength.
Okay. With long-term view of non-subsidy business contributing 20%, so after FY 2029, we can see capital allocation shift towards other industrial chemicals, right?
Yes, of course. Actually, yeah. Obviously, backward integration is the current thrust for us and entering into speciality chemicals, those area. I'm sure the current AlF3 project is only beginning, and we are seriously thinking what else we should be able to do with. This is a shift actually which is really coming up.
Last question. Do we produce enough hydrofluorosilicic acid to cater to 15,000 metric ton per annum aluminum fluoride plant?
Yeah, we have, actually.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Prashant Biyani from Elara Securities. Please go ahead.
Harshdeep, sir, you are alluding to a higher trading volume that we plan to do in Rabi initially. Can you elaborate on that? What are your plans?
What we're trying, Prashant, is to augment partly imported DAP. That's more something which the government also wanted to ensure so that the country's supply chain maintains. We will be doing some complex fertilizer also, which we are importing, like NPK and TSP. That TSP also been a product from a long-term perspective. We're trying to build a portfolio of a high phosphate fertilizer with lower nitrogen. Between DAP, TSP, and NPK, and of course, we have also this year put a lot of thrust on Ammonium Sulphate, which is a good source of nitrogen and sulfur. The government wanted us to encourage that as an alternate source of nitrogen and sulfur. That's the portfolio of traded products that we're doing.
Sir, last year, Rabi season, our traded volume was around 270,000, if I'm not wrong. How much could this year be at?
I think we're not giving a forward guidance on the exact numbers as of now, Prashant, but it will be significantly higher. That's what I can tell you.
Okay.
Like I told you, we almost secured half a million tons of imports as far as the trade products are concerned, which will help us from both Q2 and Q3, right up to December.
Sir, how much is DAP trading volume in Q1 and last year Q1?
This year, in the Q1, the DAP traded volumes have been less. That's just been around some 1,000 odd tons. TSP, we did around 24,000 tons, and Ammonium Sulphate, 22,000 tons. Last year we had not done any DAP was just 1,000 tons in the first quarter because we had a lot of manufactured DAP.
Okay. On the subsidy side, how much is the outstanding subsidy and how much have you received in Q1?
This subsidy right now as on 30th June, the outstanding is around INR 4,600 crores. During this year, we have received a subsidy of this quarter around INR 2,650 crores.
Okay. Sir, how much is the gross debt currently?
Sorry? Gross debt.
Gross debt.
INR 6,000. Just a second. INR 500. INR 6,500 crores.
Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Manish Mahawar from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Just, sir, in terms of a CapEx timeline, you said a phos acid, 2 lakh ton, which is 5 lakh - 7 lakh. Out of that, 1 lakh is coming by December and 1 lakh is the next August. You were saying 2027.
Yes, Manish.
Okay. Earlier, the timeline was, I believe it's H2 of this year. I think by Q3 or so. It has got delayed. Am I missing something in terms of timeline?
No. It is the same timeline.
Okay. Second thing is CapEx, which is a bigger CapEx, what we had announced earlier, INR 3,500 crore or INR 3,600 crore of CapEx. What is the timeline of that and whether it will come in stages or it will come in a one shot?
It will come in one shot actually. We have said 2029, 2030.
Okay. What is the timeline for that start?
It will be around 2029, 2030 beginning.
29, 30. Should we 29, 30 in the sense by 29 we should assume or March 29, 30?
29, 30, half mid of the 29, 30. Maybe, yes. These are the larger projects, generally there may be some here and there. It will be like second quarter of 29, 30.
Okay. Understood. In terms of when you said traded just for this year, particularly when you said DAP, we have doing a lot of imports and we wanted to have a DAP. Does it mean basically the manufactured volume will be lower in this year itself and total volume will grow, and definitely manufactured will come down and your traded will offset that? That's a right understanding?
You see, what we are trying to do is, we are trying to optimize the market requirements. This is a year where there are disruptions, and it would not be appropriate to put volume to volume comparison just for the sake of volume. What you're trying to do is create stakeholder value. You're trying to augment between the manufactured and the imported volume so that market share will maintain in the market. We will be producing in the plant, but we'll not like to produce if the raw material prices are too steep and if there are supply chain disruptions because of the war.
Any shortage in the production will be made good by this trading.
Trading.
Overall, there will be no decrease in the sales and other things.
Understood. Last one, sir, in terms of EBITDA per ton. We did a very good in terms of first quarter, and that has some benefit of low cost inventory what we have earlier. Considering current RM cost in terms of all the 3 RM, 4 RM what we have and currency rates, what could be the EBITDA per ton, we are able to make a very shortfall of INR 5,000. How do you mitigate or any thinking towards the government additional subsidy we expect?
Manish, I think it's a evolving situation with both the side of government and industry. With the kind of interactions we are having, we continue to say that we should have a sustainable EBITDA of INR 5,000 per ton. I think that's the number we are looking at the end of this year. Hopefully, with all the coordination that we are having, we should be able to cross that number.
Okay, understood. Sure. Okay, thanks.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Aman Kothari from Aequitas Investments. Please go ahead. Aman, are you there?
Am I audible, sir?
No, Aman, your voice is breaking.
Hello.
No, Aman. We still can't hear you. We'll move on to the next participant. We have our next question from the line of Vignesh Iyer from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Just wanted to understand what was your average landed cost of sulfur in quarter one FY 2027, and what is the price like now? Can you just give us, if you could share the comparison for the sulfur prices.
Sulfur has moved quite a bit in Q1. The prices now as we speak today is $1,000 +. As far as our sourcing is concerned, I think it will not be prudent for us to give that number because it's commercially sensitive. It has been competitive with our global benchmarks.
The current price is what you are saying is, it is around sulfur is $1,000, right?
$1,000 +, yeah. $1,000 +.
Yeah. What would this price be like in quarter one? On an average, if you could say.
Quarter one average was.
Just to understand the.
Quarter one average. Yeah, quarter one average was around $800, $850.
Okay, perfect. Can you share the same for sulfuric acid?
Sulfuric acid, right now the price is around $350.
Okay. The quarter one?
Quarter one, we have not purchased much of sulfuric acid because we have this sulfuric acid capacity 100% utilized. As you asked that what is the price, I am saying that right now the sulfuric acid price is around $350 to $370.
Okay. Sir, what percentage of our procurement is in quarter one, FY 2027 specifically, what percentage of our procurement was due to the long-term contract or long-term arrangement that we have entered in with the sulfur suppliers? What percentage was on spot basis?
Currently, we don't have any specific long-term arrangement for sulfur because of fluctuations on both sides. It's happening on the spot basis only now.
Okay. Got it, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Kush from Care PMS. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah, my question has been answered. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Sandeep Mukherjee from SKP Securities. Please go ahead.
Sir, thanks for taking my question. Sir, what was the production volumes of DAP, NPK, and urea for this quarter, sir?
Sandeep, we'll come back to it. The overall, if you look at the production, the Q1 was 7.66 lakhs.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Urea is around two lakh tons. Remaining we can take it as.
One, two, three.
Okay. 1 lakh ton of DAP. Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We have our next question from the line of Archit Agarwal from StepTrade Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Am I audible?
Yes. Archit, you need to speak a bit louder.
Hello.
Yes. Please go ahead with your questions.
My question is, last quarter management guided that working capital buildup, both inventory and subsidy receivable, would largely unwind in Q1 FY 2027, leading to normalization of operating cash flow and lower borrowings. Could you share the actual progress, how much inventory has been liquidated and how much subsidy has been received? Is operating cash flow positive?
Yeah, I know. What we have told that last quarter we have additional inventory which has been liquidated this quarter, and that has augured well for us. During this evolving situation, and if you look at the last year, last quarter's inventory compared with this quarter inventory, there is a growth, there is a increase in the inventory mainly on account of the trading volume what we are talking. Otherwise, this raw material and finished goods, there's a reduction.
Even the debt also we have reduced from around INR 700 crore on a overall basis, and cash flow is also positive from operation. Just to kind of also augment, see, the cash flow has been both robust as far as the market is concerned. We had a 43% growth in cash flow from the market, and even the subsidy collections were 22% higher than last year for the same period. We had a robust cash flow, which will help the overall situation.
Okay. You have mentioned INR 2,600 crore subsidies received in this quarter.
Yes. Yes.
Okay. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Aman Kothari from Aequitas Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Sir, this year we were in the phase of debottlenecking and expanding our granulation capacity. When can we see us reaching from 3.7 -4 this year?
The debottleneck is actually expected by again December.
Okay.
The contract is already awarded, is going in full swing. The next year
Okay. For the rest of the year going forward, as you touched upon that the traded volumes would be significantly higher as compared to the last year. We would see a margin impact this year going forward considering trading volumes would be higher?
No, overall, I think we continue to maintain that EBITDA per ton at a company level. Because there are a lot of supply chain efficiencies that have been brought into the system. Overall, we don't think that there's a pressure on EBITDA per tons below the guidance that we have talked about.
Got it. I think you touched upon the product mix going forward, my question there just still remains, sir, that in terms of NPK market, what do you see apart from the price difference could be a value unlocker for us, considering we are the industry leader both in terms of volumes also and pricing going forward?
Could you just please clarify what exactly is the concern that you have?
The idea is to understand what could drive the NPK adoption going forward, just apart from the price difference that's currently there.
There are two, three fundamental drivers. See, one is really awareness coming with respect to a farmer in terms of understanding his soil health. Where he's able to understand that there is a need for him to have a sustainable agriculture, both in terms of applying organic carbon and balanced nutrients, both in terms of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. You know, we have a challenge of overuse of nitrogen in the country. A significant subsidy and the application of the farmer happens as nitrogen and urea. We see a robust play for both NPK fertilizers going forward because a lot of awareness has happened and farmers today feel they're getting better results as far as productivity is concerned when they use a balanced portfolio.
If you look at it, last year, the market was around approximately at 24 million tons of phosphate, out of which DAP is around 10, and the NPK was around 14 million tons. Out of 14 million tons, the robust NPK grade where your company is a leader is 20:20:0:13, which happens to be around 6 million tons -7 million tons. We still feel that's a very promising grade because there is sulfur deficiency in the soil, and that's a very good fertilizer for the farmer. Today the price difference is there. Which I think is a short-term thing. I don't see that sustaining. The moment I think government removes the cap on MRP for DAP, I think the portfolio will get balanced.
Is there possibility for removing the cap on DAP?
Sorry to interrupt, Aman. We are unable to hear you. Your voice is cracking.
My question was, is there any possibility for the pricing cap to be removed on DAP?
That you have to ask maybe the political people. Currently it doesn't seem in the short term, but I think somewhere going forward, it should get at least removed. That's how we look at it. Not in the short term.
I'm sure you touched upon this too.
Sorry to interrupt, Aman. We are unable to hear you.
Hello?
Hello, Aman.
Hello? Hello?
Yes. Now we can hear you.
For year at 15%. Do you see this having any impact on you?
Sorry, Aman, but we are unable to hear you.
Hello?
We can't get you, Aman.
Hello?
Aman, are you there? Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question of the day. I now hand the conference over to management for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, dear investors, in taking time to join our earnings call. In case you have any further questions, we'll be very pleased to address them through our investor relations team. Thank you once again, and have a good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.