India: Tata Steel posts q-o-q drop in production, deliveries in Q1FY’26

• Maintenance shutdowns impact production
• Capex of INR 3,829 crore spent in Q1FY’26

India’s leading private steelmaker, Tata Steel, has reported a q-o-q decline in crude steel production and sales volumes in Q1FY’26.

The company’s quarterly production and deliveries were impacted due to planned maintenance shutdowns at its Jamshedpur facility and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL). The company expects a recovery in operational performance, as well as a normalisation of production and deliveries in the upcoming quarters.

Project updates

• The company spent INR 3,829 crore on capital expenditure during the quarter.
• The 5-MTPA blast furnace at Kalinganagar is ramping up well. Caster no. 3 is expected to come online by September 2025.
• The company has successfully commissioned one of the two continuous galvanising lines (CGL) in the 2.2-MTPA CRM complex.
• Construction is underway for the electric arc furnace (EAF) in Ludhiana. Equipment erection is in progress, and the facility will be commissioned in FY’27.

Highlights

Production drops q-o-q: Tata Steel’s Q1FY26 crude steel production dropped 4% q-o-q to 5.24 mnt from 5.44 mnt in the previous quarter. On a y-o-y basis, the same edged down by 1% as compared with 5.27 mnt in Q1FY’25.

Sales decline q-o-q: Sales volumes declined by 15% q-o-q to 4.75 mnt in Q1FY’26 as against 5.6 mnt in the last quarter. The same was down by 4% from 4.94 mnt in Q1FY’25. Exports rose 12% q-o-q to 0.37 mnt during the quarter as against 0.33 mnt in Q4FY’25.

There has been a marginal inventory build-up during the quarter, BigMint learnt from the company’s investors call.

EBITDA edges up q-o-q: The company’s EBITDA edged up by 1% q-o-q to INR 7,463 crore in Q1FY’26 from INR 7,426 crore in Q4FY’25. On an annualised basis, the same increased 6% from INR 7,037 crore in Q1FY’25.

Revenue from operations: Revenue dropped 10% q-o-q to INR 31,014 crore in Q1FY’26 from INR 34,399 crore as seen in the previous quarter. The decrease was mainly due to a drop in volumes, partly offset by the increase in realisations by INR 2,600/t.

Raw material costs: Coking coal costs are expected to be $10/tonne (t) lower on a consumption basis in India.

Note: All figures mentioned are for India (India includes Tata Steel Standalone and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited).