Major steel cos. in India report quarterly losses

13 November 2017

India’s state-owned steelmaker, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) reported quarterly losses earlier in the week. With this, the steelmaker has posted tenth consecutive quarterly loss, however, the quantum is narrowing, due to better realization and improved capacity utilization.

SAIL reported a loss of INR 539 crore in the quarter ending this September, as against INR 731 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, mainly due to higher steel prices, which resulted in realisation growing by 23% to INR 38,467 per tonne, which despite a flat growth in volumes led to almost 9 times in EBIDTA to INR 914 crore.

Moreover, a major private steelmaker, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL) reported a lower than expected quarterly loss, mainly supported by the higher revenue from its iron and steel business. It reported a loss of INR 448 cores for the mentioned quarter, compared with a loss of INR 746 crores a year earlier.

It could be easily observed that the above companies have reported lower losses as the improved steel prices helped them earn better realisation, increase volumes and improve capacity utilisation.