JSW Steel posts 84.38 percent decline in Q2 net profit

Steelmaker JSW Steel on Wednesday posted a decline of 84.38 percent in its net profit at Rs.116.95 crore for the period ended September 30, 2015 as against Rs.748.76 crore for the similar quarter last year.

Its consolidated total income in the period under review declined by 21.5 percent at Rs.10,906.90 crore as against Rs.13,894.79 crore in the July-September period in 2014.

However, despite intensifying competition due to dumping of steel in India from the surplus countries, consolidated domestic sales volume grew by 22 percent.

During the quarter, the company reported a fall of one percent in crude steel production at 3.25 million tonnes (mt) while saleable steel sales volume increased by four percent at 3.19 mt.

During the quarter, JSW Steel Coated Products registered a production (Galvanised/Galvalume products) volume of 0.36 mt and sales volume of 0.37 mt.

Its operations in Chile remained under care and maintenance from April-end this year with the company reporting an EBITDA loss of $0.48 million for the quarter.

The US-based Plate and Pipe Mill facility produced 0.058 mnt (million net tonne) of plates and 0.016 mnt of pipes, reporting a capacity utilisation of 25 percent and 12 percent respectively during the quarter.

Sales volumes for the quarter stood at 0.042 mnt of Plates and 0.018 mnt of Pipes. This business unit reported an EBITDA loss of $3.1 million for the quarter.

The JSW Group, in a statement said, the Indian steel industry continues to suffer from uncontrolled imports at prices significantly lower than domestic prices in exporting countries especially from Korea, Japan and China.

Consumption of domestically produced steel was down by 2.3 percent during the April-September period this year as total steel imports were up by 42 percent.

The finished steel exports also decreased by 26 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year.

The dumping of steel into India has resulted in excess availability which continues to dent market sentiments and remains a serious threat to the domestic steel industry.