JSW hopes 2014 will be a better year

With the possibility of iron ore prices coming down and steel prices remaining stable, leading domestic firm JSW Steel today said things are looking up for the industry next year. “On iron ore, analysts have a lot of expectations. Huge supply will be there in market next year. At the same time, demand from China is likely to come down. Based on these two factors, iron ore price may not go up next year,” JSW Steel Joint Managing Director and Group CFO Seshagiri Rao told PTI.     

Country’s largest iron ore miner, NMDC is now selling lumps — a superior variety of iron — at Rs 4,200 per tonne. Fines, which contains less iron, are being sold at Rs 2,510. Steel prices have been subdued almost throughout the year mainly due to the sluggish demand for end-use segments such as construction and consumer durables. Consumption grew by a mere 0.7 per cent in the April-October period of current fiscal. “Steel demand this fiscal is flattish as the consuming industries are not growing. That is also getting reflected in flattish consumption of steel. The demand has to revive to see the growth in the steel sector,” Rao said.     

He, however, said steel prices in India, which are often linked to international prices, would remain stable as demand for steel would be better next year with recovery happening in the US and the bottoming out of the European economy.     

“Recovery happening in the US market and consumption will go up there. Europe is already at the bottom, so there can be some recovery there. Japan is reasonably doing well and Korea is quite okay. So, only thing we need to watch is China, which is expected to slow down next year,” Rao said.     “These would keep steel prices stable next year, when raw material prices are expected to come down. 2014 is expected to be better for steel industry,” he added.