JSW Steel produces 13.17 lakh tonnes of crude steel in August, sees 5% growth over last year

MUMBAI: JSW Steel reported a 5% rise in crude steel production at 13.17 lakh tonnes in the month of August, as against 12.53 lakh tonnes in the same month last year.“JSW Steel Limited ramped up its capacity utilisation in August 2020 to an average of 88%,” the company said in a media statement on Tuesday.The Company is aiming to improve capacity utilisation gradually in the coming months with the lowest being 38% in the month of April 2020. The company produced 12.46 lakh tonnes in July 2020. Among the total crude steel produced, flat products recorded a growth of 15% year-on-year at 9.80 lakh tonnes in August, while long products recorded a degrowth of 20% to 2.32 lakh tonnes.This shows that the demand for construction and capital goods still remain low in the market,while automotive and packaging is doing better, analysts say."It is purely in terms of demand. Demand for flats are high for several reasons, like demand for white goods and auto is improving. Also, the steelmakers are increasingly exporting HRC flats than value added products or longs," said Amit A Dixit, Edelweiss, assistant vice president (research). “We see steel prices inching up and the domestic demand is improving, especially for flat consuming segments like auto as festive season is around the corner. However, longs may still degrow with low demand due to seasonal factors too,” said another analyst requesting anonymity.Once construction activities pick up in metro cities, we might see a better demand and production growth, he added.A recent report by Moody’s investor service said Indian steel-makers, Tata Steel and JSW Steel will bear the brunt of a projected 10% drop in steel consumption in the country, the first decline since the global financial crisis, however margins are likely to improve the report said. “Competitive cost of production, use of domestic iron ore that is cheaper than imported ore, and brand strength in India will help Tata Steel and JSW Steel to minimize volume decline and generate above-average profitability".JSW Steel has been declared as the preferred bidder for four iron ore mines, Nuagaon, Narayanposhi, Jajang and Ganua in Odisha, in the auctions held in February 2020.The Company said it has started mining operations at all the above said blocks from 1st of July 2020.

from Economic Times https://bit.ly/32dL0Gi
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