Metal Firms

Though buoyant on bourses, their earnings, sales have lagged overall listed universe in past 2 yrs

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led group is building the world's largest single-location copper manufacturing plant at Mundra in Gujarat, which will help cut India's dependence on imports and aid energy transition, sources said. The USD 1.2-billion facility will start operations of the first phase by March-end and full-scale 1 million tonnes capacity by FY29 (March 2029), two sources with knowledge of the matter said. India joins China and other nations that are rapidly expanding production of copper, a metal crucial for transition away from fossil fuels. Technologies critical to the energy transition like electric vehicles (EVs), charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind and batteries, all require copper. Kutch Copper Ltd (KCL), a subsidiary of the group's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), is setting up a greenfield copper refinery project for the production of refined copper with 1 million tonnes per annum capacity in two phases. For Phase-1, capacity of 0.5 million .

The outlook seems less grim but there is still a question-mark around sustainable improvement in demand

Most metal players have underperformed the benchmarks over the past year

Hindalco, Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc remain upbeat about future demand

Profits down 91% in Q2, driven by margin contraction because sales realisation did not keep pace with rise in expenses

'Move would also drive synergies' and increase value for shareholders, says company

The move was expected to bolster infrastructure spending in the world's second-largest economy, where stringent Covid-19 lockdowns have led to a slump in demand

The metal sector also faces headwinds from an investment slowdown in China that accounts for more than half the global metal demand

Host of sectors pushing up need for metals; capital outlay significant by firms, say experts

According to CRISIL Research, India imported close to 57-59 million tonnes of coking coal - a key input for steelmaking - worth Rs 1 trillion in fiscal 2022

According to CRISIL Research, base metals are currently at their highest levels since 2008, while steel prices in Europe are at an all-time high

Russia accounts for 40% of global production of the auto-catalyst metal used in catalytic converters to curb vehicle emissions

Russia & Europe account for 10% of global primary aluminium supply. Russia is also the second largest steel exporter. With war threatening supply, exporting nations like India may step in to plug gaps

Net profit rises to Rs 82,500 crore; accounts for 20% of India Inc's combined net profit

The BSE metal & mining index is up 144 per cent since the end of March 2020

According to the report, a severe dent in domestic demand for metals is anticipated and it will take until at least 2022-2023 to return to pre-pandemic levels

For base metal producers, rising rupee set to partly offset profitability