JSW Steel Limited Q3 FY22 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from JSW Steel Limited (JSWSTEEL) Q3 FY22 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• The company said 3Q22 was a mixed quarter, with steel demand going up month-over-month, while YoY demand declining 7%. Steel consumption in 2H FY22 was not up to company expectations.

• JSWSTEEL reported that it had the highest ever quarterly crude steel production of 4.41 million tonnes in Q3.

Q&A Highlights:

• Sumangal Nevatia  of Kotak Securities asked about the iron ore one-off of INR1,000 crore, the breakup between September and October. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD  said the yield for September was INR264 crore in the total of INR1,056 crores. The same trend the company expects for November and December.

• Sumangal Nevatia  of Kotak Securities also asked about the International subsidiaries, expectation of EBITDA going forward on a steady state basis. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD commented that the plate prices have not fallen as Hot Rolled coil prices have fallen in US. The company added that in terms of plate mill, there will be decline in performance either related to volume or EBITDA. However in Ohio, JSWSTEEL is seeing a fall in the HR coil price, while demand was weak.

• Indrajit Agarwal from CLSA asks about the color on the export market, bookings and going back to 25-30% of sales as exports. Jayant Acharya Director answered saying that on the export market, overall Q3 export to domestic ratio on consolidated basis ex BPSL was 21% export, and 79% domestic. The export market post the December holidays, export bookings have seen good movement upwards. However, in February, the movement is expected to start downstream.

• Indrajit Agarwal from CLSA also enquired about the domestic volume and in FY23 if JWSTEEL can see strong single digit growth in terms of consumption.  Jayant Acharya Director commented that in general the investments across the physical infra space, especially from the government side is positive. The company added that the capex pipeline is good and so expects a single digit growth in FY23-24.

• Pinakin Parekh with JPMorgan enquired about net debt, which moved higher from INR50,000 crore to the INR60,000-70,000 crore range and if it will remain in the same range for the next couple of quarters. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD said that in terms of capex incurred in the nine months, it’s INR10,350 crores. The actual increase in debt is around INR6,200 crore. JSWSTEEL added that more than the increase in debt, the kind of investments gone in the working capital is more important to look at.

• Ritesh Shah of Investec asked about Chinese net steel export trends going forward and how the company is approaching the local demand/supply situation in China. Jayant Acharya  Director commented that Chinese production is likely to be moderated in the coming few months on Olympics and winter months, which will result in moderate exports for IH21 from China, while domestic demand is expected to be reasonable.

• On a question asked by Abhijeet Mishra of ICICI about the JSW coated numbers declining in 3Q, Jayant Acharya commented that it was lower due to the cost impact on some raw materials like zinc, zinc aluminum, tin and paint. However, the company expects the situation for 4Q to be better.

• Abhijeet Mishra of ICICI also queried about the compression in spread between HR and CR prices. Jayant Acharya commented that the compression in HR and CR gap has moderated, that is mainly in the CR CA retail space. In coated, different products are behaving differently. In the color coated spaces, while prices have gone down, in certain brands like Colouron Plus JSWSTEEL is seeing a lower price drop than the other level of color seen from competition.