Saturday, January 29,
JSW Steel Limited, India’s third-largest steel producer, will increase its product prices in the next month in the wake of rising input costs, a senior official of JSW Steel told.
“We raised our product prices in the first week of January, while our spot market prices were also increased marginally. We will go for another price hike in February,” said Jayant Acharya, director, commercial and marketing, JSW Steel.
However, Mr Acharya refused to disclose the quantum of the hike.
“Production cost in the quarter increased by around 30% as prices of raw materials, mainly coking coal, surged in the international market. However, prices of steel increased by around 13% and that hurt our net profit,” said Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director, JSW Steel.
In the next fiscal, the company will require 7MT to meet higher production targets. Currently, it needs 5MT of coking coal, annually. However, the shipments of the commodity have been impacted due to the floods that have swamped Queensland, Australia.
“Not every mine and port has been hurt due to the floods. There are a few mines and ports that have not been affected. But yes, shipments have slowed down,” said Mr Acharya.
JSW Steel imports around 100% of its coking coal requirements-most of it comes from Queensland.
Source: MoneyLife
Leave a Reply