Welspun Specialty Solutions Ltd (NSE: WELSPLSOL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call dated Jul. 23, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Unidentified Speaker
Anirudh Nagpal
Salil Bawa
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Navin Agarwal — Chief Financial Officer
Gautam Chakraborty,
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Hena Vora — Analyst
Rahil — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Wellspun Speciality Solutions Limited Q1FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anirudh Nagpal from JM Financial Institutional securities. Thank you. And over to you sir.
Anirudh Nagpal
Thanks operator and welcome everyone to the call. I will first thank WilSprun Specialty Solutions Ltd. For giving JM Financial the opportunity to host today’s call. Without much ado, I will hand over the call to Mr. Salil Bawa, head Investor Relations, Wellspun Group to introduce the management over to you, Sahil.
Salil Bawa
Thank you Anirudh. And good afternoon to all of you. On behalf of Wellspun Specialty Solutions Ltd. I welcome all of you to the company’s Q1 FY26 results earnings call. Along with me, we have with us today Mr. Anuj Barakia, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, Mr. Naveen Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer Mr. Gautam Chakraborty, Head Investor Relation Wellspan Corp. We hope you have had a chance to review the investor presentation that was filed with the exchanges. The presentation is also available on the company’s website. During today’s discussion, we may be making references to this presentation.
Would request you to take a moment to review the safe harbor statement in our presentation. Also, as usual, we’ll start the forum with opening remarks by the leadership team and then we will open the floor for your questions as the call gets over. Should you have any further queries that remain unanswered post the earnings call, please feel free to reach out either to me or Naveenji or Gautam. With that, I would now like to hand over the floor to Mr. Anuj Barakia. Anuj, over to you.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Salil. Good afternoon everyone. Let me welcome you all to the quarter one financial year 26 earnings call. Of Wellspun Specialty Solutions Ltd. Let me first briefly talk about the global macroeconomic. Environment, our industry scenario and company’s performance before we get into an interactive session on the back of a turbulent macroeconomic environment. Geopolitical events, supply chain disruptions and heightened economic fragmentation. The global economy grew at 3.3% in calendar year 2024. Emerging market and developing economies delivered a better performance by growing at about 4.3%. The global economy is expected to maintain a modest growth with a forecast of 2.8% for calendar year 2025 and 3% for calendar year 2026. This growth will be supported by more accommodative monetary policies aimed at ensuring price stability, stimulating economic activity and boosting employment.
To mitigate the impact of protectionist policies, tariff actions and heightened trade tensions, leaders around the world are undertaking economic interventions and strategic negotiations through dialogue in order to secure favorable bilateral trade alliances and to ease and stabilize global trade. The Indian economy had remained resilient and recorded growth of good 6.5% in financial year 25 as projected by the Reserve bank of India. It is expected to sustain this growth momentum at 6.5% during financial year 2026 as well. Coming to our company amidst the volatility. And uncertainties with respect to trade actions impacting global demand scenario, Wellspun Specialty continues to engage with all the customers in order to address the external scenario in best manner, maintain operational stability and consistently increase our volumes. As mentioned during our previous interaction we undertook five yearly scheduled maintenance activity of pipeline planned for four weeks during the month of June. It took some extra time for the nature of activity and the perfection it deserved. However concluded very successfully in mid of July. This is expected to result into substantial improvement in uptime and productivity of pipe plant.
This maintenance schedule however impacted the production and sales volume of pipe during the quarter. I will also like to update you. Regarding prepayment of non cumulative redeemable preference shares of Rupees 51 crores which have been prepaid at a value of Rupees 27 crores resulting into effective reduction of liability of about 24 crores captured in the reserves and surplus. These shares with fair value as on 31st March 2025 of rupees 21 crores were redeemable in the year 20332033 and were subjected to an annual finance charge of about 12%. Hence the differential of rupees 5.8 crores was considered as non recurring finance cost or finance expense for quarter one financial year 26. I am happy to share post this payment the company has become debt free with this backdrop.
Let me discuss our financials. Total income grew by about 26% year on year and about 1% quarter on quarter to rupees 211 crores. EBITDA for the quarter stood at rupees 14 crores while packed before non recurring finance expense at rupees 5 crores more than doubled year on year and increased by about 39% quarter on quarter for quarter one financial year 26 while SS tubes volume stood lower at around 850 tons owing to the planned maintenance schedule, Steel products sales volume recorded an impressive growth to about 7,400 tonnes. The order book of the company at. The end of the the quarter one stood strong at about 6,500 tonnes valued at about Rupees 287 crores. Given the external business environment and overall demand scenario, especially export markets, as discussed before, average sales realization and contribution margins have definitely come under pressure especially with regards to steel products. Despite the situation, we have actively pursued our strategy of increasing our capacity utilization and prepare ourselves for future. The team brought sharper focus on domestic market and added new customers while engaging with existing domestic as well as export customer base. To maximize our order intake, a total of nine new customers got added during the quarter.
Our focus remained undiluted on new product development and new accreditations in order to enhance our product range and market offerings. On this front, I am pleased to share some key updates as 9100D Accreditation for Aerospace Final certification received which recommendation letter was received in the Previous Quarter? Grade T91 tubes for boilers trial order. Successfully produced and delivered paving way for company to entry into another value added steel as well as tube product. The company has launched process of IBR accreditation for alloy steel category bars and tubes and expect to complete the process by quarter two financial year 26 which is the current quarter Norsoc M650 certification progress on track expected completion by quarter three this year. Talking about the rights issue, we have. Completed the strategic deployment of the proceeds as per the stated objective of debt repayment process, debottlenecking capability upgrades, working capital augmentation and other general purposes deemed appropriate by the Board. The new Bright Bar project construction is going on in full swing. Its commissioning is scheduled during quarter three this year which will add a substantial capability as well as capacity to value added Bright Bar product. I’m extremely happy to share our yet another significant initiative, the new solar energy subscription which got commissioned and commenced transmission of power effective June 2025. The proportion of renewable energy renewable electricity increased from 31% during financial year 25 to about 36% during April June quarter.
We expect share of green power in. Our total electricity consumption during financial year 26 to exceed 75%. Such initiatives will go a long way in not only supporting our internal ESG and sustainability objectives. But also preparing the company to remain ahead of curve when the policies on carbon emission related levies expected from various countries like European CBAM will start coming into force. We do expect stability in the market in the days to come. And given our focus on our core competency coupled with higher capacity utilization, I believe we will enhance our performance significantly in the forthcoming quarters. With this we kindly open the floor for your questions.
Thank you.
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Radha from BNK securities. Please go ahead.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Hello sir. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on as 9100B accreditation. So my first question was that we have an outstanding order book of 286 crores. And as per rough batch calculation out of this total order book I believe 200 crores is for pipes and balance is for bars. In terms of value and in terms of volumes it is coming to 3,000 metric tons of pipes and 3,500 metric tons of bars. Is this understanding correct? If not then please correct me.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Sir, good afternoon. Rather you did some maths but you. Know maths has got a little difference. I think the right way to say would be that we’ve got about six months of order book for pipe and the balance is on bars. Bars. Normally as I’ve been telling before also that the market norm is to have at least two months minimum and good time. It’s three months which in our case. Is about one and a half. I would say one to one and a half and which is owing to the scenario at present. Now the other reason could be that we really pressed the pedal during quarter one and as I said, I mean the volumes went up by more than. 40% compared to the previous quarter. So which means our intensity of order intake also got. Offset by the intensity of deliverance. So I can say, you know, the team is all poised and is working on building the order book, you know, as a first milestone to minimum two. Months and you know up to three months.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
So sir, if we take six months for pipes when it is coming to 2500 metric ton of volume in terms of volumetric terms for pipes, is this correct? Sir,
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
that’s not correct. Because here our estimation on deliveries year on would be much, much better. So I think the historical volumes which I said in our last discussion also that we are clearly looking at a 25 to 30% increase over our deliverance of past.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Okay sir. Second is the order intake like you mentioned in this usually it used to be 200 crores average per quarter but in this quarter it has come down to 150 crores. So please give us some specific reasons as to what has led to this and how much is unexpected. Bail orders.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Sorry, I probably missed your first statement. 150 crores you said about what?
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Quarterly order intake, sir.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Total order intake. So you are calculating based on opening order book sales and the closing order book. Correct. Hello, can you hear us? Your voice is breaking. Can you.
operator
Interrupt? Mr. Your voice is breaking. I would request that you rejoin the question queue. Okay. The next question is from the line of Rayyan Syed from three Netra asset managers. Please go ahead.
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Thank you for giving me good afternoon. Yeah and I have couple of questions and so first of all on the PNL side in EBITDA margins 2.6.6% in quarter one upper 26 as compared to the last YoY quarter and quarter 10%. So to what extent was this drop attributable? Probably the pipe shutdown or versus any raw material or energy cost pressure which we are facing in this quarter. Can you please elaborate on that?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So broadly Rehan, what I would like. To say is two things. One is as I also mentioned clearly in my opening remarks that in steel specifically there is pressure on price and there is pressure on margins. So obviously. Due to that situation, while we could make better EBITDA margins in terms of absolute numbers, but as a percentage you will see a drop which is a market norm at this point in time on the pipe as I. Said is because of this scheduled maintenance. Though we had expected that we will. Probably be able to do a bit better volume. But let’s say there was a clear. One month activity on maintenance which was going on and that’s the reason the. High margin pipe volume got reduced and. That’S why you are seeing this average. EBITDA margin going down. So it’s simple math. Considering this as a quarter. As I explained, the next quarter is definitely on pipe. We are, we are going to be. You know, bouncing back as you know. As we were doing in the past. And plus I expect better volumes over that as well.
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Okay. Okay, thank you. And my next question is on the certification that you have got as 900100 defines aerospace just a bit regarding the opportunity size, what’s the plan for scaling in aerospace conference and are there any that you have mentioned in the previous any RFQs or any order under discussion post this exfiltration Just you can clarify more on this.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
I think in I did I explained this aspect into deep details in the last call and it’s. It’s. So you see if we take this into two different areas. One is pipe and one is steel. On the pipe and tube side there are customers who are buying directly the product and we are already engaging with a few of them especially on the defense side. We already did some trial business in the past and now we are actively engaged and expect some business coming our way between quarter two and three and which could be a strategic value business as far as the steel is concerned. As 9100 is an enabler whereby you see most of the business in large aerospace markets like UK in US in Europe happens through the stockholders. Now the stockholders prefer to buy from the companies who have got aerospace approval.
Also attached to the product. Then in that case by maintaining unity quantity of a product they are able to sell it for all applications including aerospace. Okay, so this is like an enabler and will help us in opening and increasing opening the new customers who are fixed on having this approval, you know in their internal system to approve a supplier and enhance our volumes with the customers who are buying us buying from us already. Now if you ask me the real effect and progress we’ll start to see in quarters to come as currently the overall scenario is little depressed.
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Okay, okay I said last one bookkeeping question from my side like is there any capex plan like in absolute numbers we are doing for FY26.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So FY26 we are very clear as I said we are building a new Breitbar shop, right? And plus there are a few de bottlenecking equipment which are coming within pipe plant and some in steel plant which are not. I mean none of this is targeted to increase our overall, you know, quantity deliverance. They are all in the nature of either adding value to the existing capacity or debottlenecking of a certain process as one process out of the complete line off. So I think in this year our total capital expenditure could go to the tune of about 40 to 45 crores out of which major one is going into the Bright bar shop which we are building like a very world class.
Shop I can say.
Rehan Saiyyed — Analyst
Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Thanks so much. Thank you and good luck for your coming out. Thank you.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Thanks. Thanks.
operator
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind the participants to press Star and one to ask a question. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and 1. The next question is from the line of Radha from BNK securities. Please go ahead.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Hello sir. Thank you again. So next question is that I was calculating the quarterly average order intake. So usually it is around 200 crores per quarter but in this quarter it has come down to 150 crores. So what are the reasons for lower order intake in this quarter and in pipes, how much is unexecuted? Main orders? I would not have exact number in front of me. But I mean, you see there is a significant portion of boiler tube order in our overall order book. So and you know, of course it was a large one. And so therefore at the same time, you know, we have a lot of different orders or let’s say inquiries under. Discussion at this point in time. And you know, obviously this, you know, when we always thought once we have this, you know, order book going to a range of six months, seven months, then we will become more choosy and. You know, little picky, you know, into picking businesses which are, you know, value businesses. And that is where you know, maybe you will see some, some less intake on the pipe side because we are full and at the same time we. Are now a little choosy into picking the business on the steel. I would say I think we have pretty well booked similar as last quarter or maybe a little more. But then the average price dip is probably offsetting the increased volume. So I think that is the difference that you are probably seeing at this point in time.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
But sir, you know, usually we have a fixed price contract with the customer.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Yes.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
So accordingly, if we see QoQ, the order book is down 9% in terms of volumes but in terms of value it is down 14% that only I was trying to figure out, sir.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So that is, see that could be a, you know that first of all we have two different line of products which is pipe and you know, steel. Now within steel again we have cast rolled bright. Then there are grade. So there is a, you know, we cannot say, you know, if there are just couple of products then you know, a simple calculation will work as to, you know, the proportion of value should be equivalent, almost equivalent to the proportion of quantity. So here it’s not the case. You know, the order book that we probably saw in the last quarter, you know, on the steel, 100% of it has been delivered on the pipe, let’s say about 20% of it has been delivered and the new orders have come in.
So the mix, the proportion, you know, might change.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Okay, sir. So you know, out of the total effective capacity in bars, how much of it is going to be dedicated towards this Bright Bar? And what are the reasons that is leading you to becoming positive in this product? And are there any new orders in this product?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
See, our first purpose is to you utilize the melt shop and the rolling capacity to the maximum possible extent. Right. And as we had earlier also guided that we did about 20,000 tons in last year of sales which included black bright, you know, all kinds without counting the captive consumption for pipeline and which we are clear that this year, you know, we are going to definitely increase that utilization by about 30% or maybe even more. And I think we are on the path. In quarter one itself, we are seeing that 30% plus increase already came in.
So now as far as Bright Bar is concerned, our current capacity of Bright Bar is less, right? Is about 20, 22,000 tons out of which we are pretty much after consuming whatever we need for captive pipeline. You know, the rest is, I would say primarily full, you know, for sales outside. In fact, some of the, you know, some of the bars we are even getting turned outside, I mean, just to, you know, cover our requirements. So with this new shop coming in, you know, the capacity will increase like three times plus the existing capacity. So, you know, making it like completely sufficient to cover the entire production that we have.
And in which case, obviously we’ll see growth in our Bright Bar sales.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Okay, and so you mentioned in your PPT that you have added nine new customers in this quarter. So what are the expected order wins from these customers in the next one year and how much more customer additions are you planning for the remaining half of the year? Basically, I wanted to understand how fast can we pin the capacity of both bars and pipes.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Well, I think, you know, the guidance of, you know, increase remains. Now, as far as customer addition is concerned, we may be, you know, our team may be talking to 20 different customers or 25 different customers at a time. But when we say addition means where the orders have been booked, you know, those have been matured. So, and I think it depends on the market depend on so many factors. But yeah, I mean our expectation from the team and you know, plus they are also very clear that they have to add more and more customers.
Now these will be a mix of B2B, B2C steel pipes. I mean all kinds. So I think it will be probably difficult for me to say that from these nine Customers how much business will come. But the whole idea is that how do we get this 30% incremental volumes or more. And I think we have a plan and you can see that we are getting there.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Yes sir. Thanks. I’ll come back in the queue.
operator
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Parth from Investec. Please go ahead.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Yeah. Hi. Hi sir, thank you for the opportunity. I have a few questions. Thank you sir, I have a few questions. So the first question is related to exports. So is there like do we share this exports number? Like, like as a percentage of volumes for the pipes business?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
You see, first of all, if you ask me that’s not really a benchmark or relevant when you know, if I would analyze important is what kind of applications we are selling, what kind of grades we are selling. So. But since you have asked, I can tell you that I think in our case export volumes which two years back in pipe used to be about 40, 45% is now about 20% and which is something that we chose. Our focus is more on value add and we are part of India growth story. And you will see that most of our book on pipe is now comprised of strategic businesses which are of a greater value and we are almost out of the standard scheduled pipes and which used to be the most subject matter of exports.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Right, Right. So sir, basically the reason why I asked this question is because I wanted to understand the tariff angle. Like if we had, like since we don’t have much of exposures, then there’s no point. However, even 20% like US and Europe are there.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Sorry to interrupt but I think that would not be the 100% right statement to say that we are not impacted. I can tell you the trade or the global trade today is not only restricted to tariff action taken by us and whether we are selling into us or not. So what is happening is for you to understand is why this whole scenario of price war and say depressive pricing and margins, what’s happening there? So let’s understand in stainless steel world, European mills have been big suppliers to the US markets. And you can say that because of their approvals, because of their past experiences and they are established for decades and some of them are even 100 years old companies and suddenly, you know, everything has stopped because they also are now subjected to 50% tariff.
Right now with 50% tariff, obviously you know, those companies are unable to sell into us and so their prices have gone down more than 20 to 30% on an average in last only three months and which has led to excessive supply in the domestic European market and which is bringing a lot of effect on the overall stainless steel pricing in Europe and as a result pressure on the Indian mills. But the better news is, or a good news could be that this is like a pressure situation which has come for a reason. At the same time, if we look at the developments all around, I mean this is not going to, this is not expected to be a permanent situation.
So I’m sure there will be some agreements that will happen over a period of time and once this gets normalized, things should be back to track.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Got it, Got it. And sir, one more thing. Like these European companies, they do have, so the reason why there would be some pressure on the Indian markets is because they, the, these European companies, they do have their operations even in India. And is it, is it that the, you know, the parent company over there would, you know, tell these guys to lower the pricing in Indian for the Indian market?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
That’s not really significant. Even the Indian establishment of a foreign company would operate mostly like any other company in the Indian scenario. I think the more effect is coming for a reason that a lot of steel used to go from India to Europe. It is still going. I mean nothing has really stopped but has come down significantly and you know, where the supply suddenly increased in Europe. So obviously there is, there is a. Pushback and which is what we are seeing at this point in time.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Fair enough, fair enough. Got it. And sir, this one thing about, you know, domestic competition for the SS pipes and tubes. So you know, there are, there are like, you know, contentions that you know, the pipes which are used for critical applications like you know, the ones that you make. But you know, our competition recently has, you know, got an award for you know, supercritical thermal application which who you know, produces these pipes through piercing technology. So what happens like if you know, these, these products get, you know, accepted more in the market because you know, I don’t think besides four players there are like any other players who have, you know, extrusion technology.
So what sort of competition or pressure does it put on us or players who have hot extrusion technology?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So I think part market is evolving, you know, and which is a feature of the market, it has to evolve. First of all, I can tell you on pipe and the way, you know, the consumption in India is going up, there is enough market number one. Number two, there is enough market for strategic applications where still there are applications where extrusion is a must. And more than that, you know, I can tell you that in our strategy, obviously we are picking those kind of orders and businesses where extrusion is a must or you know, the grade or the product is such which cannot be produced, you know, by any other route, that is our first priority.
But at the same time, you see our USP is also being integrated, right? We are quick one to make a quote to make a full end to end feasibility whether a product can be made or not and not dependent on an external steel supplier, which is one very important aspect to help us before we really make a commitment on the pipe. So I think there are more than just a factor of exclusion. Of course it is a very important factor. But then there are so many other things, you know, which gives us a little edge over our competition.
And as far as, you know, piercing product getting into strategic sector, I think we need to really wait as to which all sectors it really gets successful though. I mean, I’m not saying that I’m casting any doubt there, but then that is something which is like a new phenomena. So we are also, you know, waiting and watching and at the same time we have our clear strategy as to, you know, what we need to do. So. So it’s fine. I mean.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Fair enough. So, and this just one last question. You mentioned that you know, having a backward integration. So how big a role does it play when you, you know, go to the customer like, you know, for him to decide like which, which. So in, in a different way I’ve had to ask this question. And basically how, in which sector does it play an important role to have a backward integrated pipes and use facility?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Every sector which is conscious on quality and conscious on controls, Take example, you know, we are not a new player in this field, right? There are players sitting, I mean I’m talking of global market and India used to import so many, you know, seamless products for various applications all these years, right? It’s the make in India started only about two years back or three years back. And we are seeing a lot of companies now developing these products in India. So if you take, you know, take examples of maybe not just thermal but also, let’s say nuclear.
When we started supplying, you know, the pipes for nuclear establishment and for ISRO and things, we got these approvals very fast basis. You know, we being integrated from end to end. And that gave customers a lot of confidence that we are not that they will be also able to kind of monitor and control their quality under one roof. So it does make a lot of difference. Take an example of eil. So generally EIL approvals take longer time. I mean experience of five years, seven years and those kind of things. But when they saw that here is a plant which is completely integrated end to end, I think our approvals came very, very fast.
And same is the case with a lot of export queue approvals that we got. And the pre. Let’s say immediate, you can say that most important aspect which these few customers clearly spelled out is that you being integrated, I mean gives us a lot of confidence. So I think it is.
Parth Bhavsar — Analyst
Yeah. Understood sir, understood. Those are my questions. Thank you so much for answering them.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.
operator
Thank you. We would like to remind the participants to press Star and one to ask a question. To ask a question, please press Star and one. Now the next question is from the line of Radha from BNK securities. Please go ahead.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Hi sir. Thank you again. Sir, my question was that you have a brand advantage of Wellspring in the global market especially in booming regions like Middle east and USA for the oil and gas part, please talk about how are you leveraging this brand to gain customer approvals especially with giants like Sadhu Aramco, other bigger players.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So first of all, having this brand and coming from the group already gave us a lot of leeway and the advantage. And that is why being a newest company also we are doing quite a lot of business and have a standing which perhaps would not have been otherwise possible. The second is it is not for the reason that you know, one has one company as a brand, you know, can get the approvals or a leeway into certain businesses. Right. So the merits of operational efficiency capability plays a role now at the same time our own strategy plays a role.
So you can say that in case of Middle east, you know, first of all, as per us, there are for most of the projects there are number of suppliers already available. Having said that, I mean I absolutely do not mean that market is not important for us. And our action operator request has been initiated. If you’d like to cancel this request, please press star zero again. But our priority until recently was not so much to get into Middle East. That market is only about pipes, pipes and tubes, not really steel. And on pipes and tubes our focus was and which we fairly succeeded was to get into the areas wherein we can get some kind of, you know, distinct advantage. And I think you would understand and the market understands that we have been fairly successful in doing that.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Yes sir. In the last quarter you had successfully booked your first order for the T91 and T91 grade. So I believe these grades are used in nuclear power plants. So in that context, for a nuclear power plant, what is the average content of single machine pipe required for a thousand megawatt large nuclear reactors? And in nuclear reactors, I believe stainless steel are used for heat exchanger tubes, coolant piping, clean generator tubes, etc. So do we have all the soda approvals of all these kinds of pipes? And we. And what is our plan regarding this?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So I’ll just first we’ll correct here that, you know, T91 is not used in a nuclear reactor. The T91 is used in thermal power plants. And the grade is used not only for tubes but also for various other components which goes through maybe forging route, machining route. So this is a grade which will give us business in tubes as well as in steel. So that is the reason we developed this and the trial order was supplied for thermal power plant only. And that is the reason we have also gone ahead with obtaining the accreditation from IBR so that we are able to certify the boiler safety regulation when we are selling these products.
So this is about T91. We see a lot of opportunity in T91 because there are not many manufacturers in India, in fact probably only couple of them. And that’s why this product had been an item of import again for many, many years. And we are seeing this consumption of, you know, P91, 92 and similar category products increasing in times to come. And that is the reason we have very selectively picked up and gone for, you know, developing it. On the nuclear, the opportunity again, as I said, if India were to build 80 gigawatt as projected over next few years, then there is huge opportunity and you know, we are seeing that happening.
So I mean these are bulk use, you know, kind of grades and I think we will see, we will see. Good businesses coming in these grades. Now on the nuclear, as you were asking, you see, nuclear has got, I would say numerous applications because it’s a huge plant with various components and various kinds of tubes and grades and sizes and applications. So I cannot really say that whether we stand approved for every single application. Of course there would be some that we are not approved. But then for a large ambit, for a large scope of tubing that goes into nuclear, I mean we have been supplying off and on and therefore, you know, we can very confidently say that we will not see an obstacle, you know, from the approval side of it.
Important is that currently in nuclear, most of the businesses which were coming up until now Were to do with the, you know, maintenance or repairs or you know, some bit of construction of new components. But what we expect here on is major investments coming into nuclear setups and therefore next maybe three to five years we will see this business growing. The inquiries have already started. We are engaging with various fabricators and the other ancillaries who are supplying for nuclear projects. And we see this proportion nuclear will increase in our business in next couple of years.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Any number on what kind of stainless steel pipe requirement would be there in nuclear power plant?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
I would really not know that because there are different technologies and it’s not the same design. So very difficult to say on that one. But yeah, I mean they are, whatever it is, I mean they are very, very high value. So we don’t expect them to be like thousands of tons. There are probably few hundred tons that goes into one reactor, one reactor, complete set. But it has, it has a, you know, huge value.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
You know our order book, like I was asking previously is generally on fixed price contracts with customers and raw material. Also you’ve said on previous calls it is booked on a back to back basis. So despite this, there has been some quarters wherein pipe volume mix is same within the quarter. For example, 20% of total volumes have been piped, let’s say within two quarters. But still if you compare on the gross margin per metric turn trend, there has been some reduction on a per metric trend basis. So on the basis of pricing and on the basis of back to back booking of raw material, I’m failing to understand what is causing this, sir.
And yes, that was the question, what is causing it?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
No, so I probably explained this few minutes back. You see, our sales are on a fixed price basis. Our raw material also we book on a fixed price basis. But what I sold three months back or four months back, let’s say the same product was selling at 100 rupees. And today when I am selling it, it’s selling at let’s say 97 rupees. That day when I sold at 100 I could buy raw material at. And today when I am buying raw material it is available at 91. So you see it is fixed 91, that that date was fixed at, you know, 90.
But if you look at the margin between the sale price and the, and the purchase price of raw material that has got squeezed, right? And that, that happens because of the reason I explained, you know, the, the supply, increase of supply and you know, decrease in demand. Decrease in demand for the reason of, you know, market optima, you know, optimism and increase of supply due to this tariff challenge which is going on at. This point in time.
Radha Agarwalla — Analyst
Understood. Thank you so much for answering my question. All the best to you.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Hina from Dam Capital. Please go ahead.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. So I’m fairly new to the company but I have been looking at the steel pipe space. So I just wanted to understand on the exports front what we see from peers is there’s really good demand for them. Now is it a different market that they are catering to where we are not present? I’m just trying to understand why we would think that the demand is in Europe, for example, has gone down significantly.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
If I. So Hina, if I understood your question correctly, one part is whether the demand. In Europe has gone down or not. And second is. Are there any segments. Where competition is selling and we are not selling? Is that the question?
Hena Vora — Analyst
Yes. Or any geographies per se where you know, the competition will be present and we are not.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Okay, so if we talk of geography, first of all, let us understand India as a manufacturer of seamless pipe is a new, you know, new source. Right. And we are evolving, we are emerging. Before us, you know, the biggest suppliers. Or producers had been Chinese and which still today also they are. And then historically we see seamless pipes coming out from Korea, coming out from. Japan and a lot of companies in Europe. So this was a setup. Now the Indian companies started to sell into Europe most of their capacity proportion of export that goes out of India for a very simple reason that the European companies which have been the stalwart companies, they were selling all across the globe because of their R and D history, application based solutions and you know, they are into different league. So which means that for standard scheduled pipes, which is within the seamless space considered as the base product, you know, the Indian companies could find a lot of space to get in and they were able to control their sales prices in such a manner that they didn’t leave a leverage for the European companies with the European cost to be able to compete there.
And plus at the same time the advantage also got passed on to the Indian companies because Europe had anti dumping on Chinese seamless pipeline. Yes, correct. So that is how it became a very conducive market for the Indian companies. And considering it as a very attractive kind of a business, you will see flurry of manufacturers opening shops in India. That is what has happened.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Correct.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
And if you look at other locations, where can we go or the Indian companies can go. US is dominated by I think probably 50, 60% supplies are going from China, China, tier one, tier two manufacturers, not the cheap ones. Plus US has domestic native companies, plus European, Japanese, all companies are selling there. And it’s a very, very, you can say approval oriented market. So it’s not difficult to sell in bulk the standard pipes as in case of Europe. Other than these two locations, we don’t see, you know, much of an opportunity except again for Middle East.
Now Middle east is, you know, everybody is present in Middle east if you ask me, right from Korea to Japan to China because there are absolutely no restrictions, you know, other than Saudi has recently brought make in Saudi and you know, they are promoting manufacturing in Saudi. So that is a new phenomenon. And we are also working out our strategy around that. May not be necessarily for stainless steel, but other businesses. But that is a new phenomena. But you see the market size is limited. Only in Saudi. How much can one country consume? And you already see Koreans and Japanese opening the shops and they are present there.
So I think that answers your question as to, you know, so we were selling a lot of pipes into Europe and as I said that, you know, that was a beginning for us and we were able to probably at some point in time we were selling about 70% of our sales into export and which we curtailed over the last three years and you know, converted that into a value added sales, you know, instead of doing this competitive, pure scheduled pipes. So whatever little bit now we are selling into Europe. When I say a little bit like 20, 25%, none of it is scheduled pipes.
Now we are only doing tubing, we are only doing value add where you know, we are getting premiums. So that’s how we have changed our strategy.
Hena Vora — Analyst
No, I take your point on the, you know, the business environment per se but it’s just, you know, surprising because our peers, for them export share has gone from 15 to 20% to now 40%. And for us it has been the opposite.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
To answer your question, simply that two completely different, you know, products, maybe they are all categorized as seamless pipes and tubes, but what’s going out is something that we have stopped producing because it’s very cheap, very low value and we don’t see, you know, it’s worth producing in, you know, in an extrusion plant.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Got it, Got it. Sir. If you could also give me some flavor on the domestic front per se, so you know, more on the oil and gas PET side because that is some demand that’s been missing for a while. I understand power Is doing well. Renewable energy as well. But oil and gas, which used to be the bread and butter. Right. For the steel pipes industry. Would you be able to give me some sense on that?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So I. You see, there are two kinds of pipes and tubes in oil and gas. One is the transportation lines, which is mostly saw pipe and you know, carbon steel, large diameter.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Yeah, yeah.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Now when we talk of stainless steel and the two seamless pipes, they go, they go into the, you know, plant and machinery setup. Right. And which could be different kind of reactors, you know, in refineries and offshore platforms and maybe downhole equipment, so those kind of things. So I think quite a lot of that business is repetitive in nature. Which means that if you, if the refinery is operating, it will need the pipes to be replaced after some point in time. So, you know, the, the replacement or the maintenance depending on the market scenario can be delayed a bit, but it still will have to be done.
And that business is there at the same time. You see, for private companies, there is no great restriction or a mandate to only buy from India. Right. So which means that for them, even the Chinese imports or Korean imports or you know, imports from other places also open.
Hena Vora — Analyst
And despite the duties.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Well, yes, but not on all grades. And at the not on all origins there are restrictions. There are restrictions also of the nature of quality control order. So what we are seeing is that the imports are going down. And I was coming to that. The imports are going down. Now it’s not absolutely free at. It used to be two, three years back. And that’s how you know, the companies in India are also getting business. So other than what’s getting exported, if you see lot of piercing, mills are selling into oil and gas.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Okay, okay.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Especially the, you know, standard scheduled pipes wherever they are required. And on the tubing side of it, mostly the tubes are bought by the fabricators who are supplying into refineries. Now these fabricators are, take for example Larsen and Toubro, Godrej and Boys, you know, Anoop Industry, hjac, Gemini. So you know, these. So these are the fabricators who are supplying into the refineries the made components. And then they buy tubes from mills like us.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Correct.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So it’s like an indirect supply and that business is there. I mean, I would say, of course, with the depressed environment at this point in time, even these companies, fabrication companies, export sales have gone down. And that’s what is reflecting into an overall scenario. But I mean, we definitely expect, you know, this to be coming back soon as refineries have to operate and they will need equipment.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Correct, correct. So it’s fair to assume that there has been some bit of deferment also when it comes to at least the replacement demand per se. So like you said, little depressed environment overall. So that’s. That. That would be fair to Z.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Sorry,
Hena Vora — Analyst
no, so I was saying it’s. Fair to assume that there is some bit of deferment happening even on the replacement demand. Okay. Which should pick up eventually over the next few quarters.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
We would expect. So.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Yeah, sure, sure. And so one last question from my end. Would you be able to tell me the capacity utilization number for us in this quarter and for FY25.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So FY25 on steel we utilize, I would say less than 40, 40. Less than 40. 45% in case of pipe utilized, less than 60%. And in the current year we expect, you know, at least 25 to 30% increase over our last year volumes. And this is the guidance that we are carrying. And we’ll, you know, by the end of the year we will be able to, you know, in, in totality get that kind of utilization increase this year.
Hena Vora — Analyst
Okay? Okay. Sure, sir. Thank you so much, sir. Those are my questions. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahil S from Crown Capital. Please go ahead.
Rahil — Analyst
Hi sir, good evening. You had said you are exploring new markets like Mexico and Brazil. So any development on that front?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
So we have done our initial working Rahel. In fact in that series we also approach, I mean we also had South Africa wherein we could even start some initial business, some of which is also supplied. But you see all of these markets currently are in a state of uncertainty and every customer out there is defensive. It’s little you can say conservative in their buying approach. So till such time this air around tariffs and supply chains gets cleared, I think would not be the right time to make efforts on the new markets. So I think we have our plan in place.
We are keeping, you know, keeping them warm and soon we see, you know, uptick in the market and you know, some stability sinking in. Then we will again activate all of these markets. These are important, these are there in our strategy. And you see we have to get to the 90% utilization. We have a lot of headroom. So I think we are not going to leave any of these markets on touch.
Rahil — Analyst
Okay? Okay. And lastly, your guiding is still like aiming for that 30% volume growth this year, are you not?
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Yes, of course. That is that, that is definitely on the cards. And we are, we are very confident of achieving that minimum 30% growth.
Rahil — Analyst
Does it apply? Does the same apply for value as well? Value growth? Is that something you can.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
See? Value wise? I, you know, probably would have been more open and clear in giving that out. But you see, we need to appreciate that the kind of volatility that’s existing at this point in time, I mean, probably would not be right, you know, to assume something. So the expectation is that things should improve from here, in which case what you said would definitely be possible, but you know, price wise uncertainty and you know, that still prevails.
Rahil — Analyst
Mm. Okay. And then so does the same go for absolute EBITDA or maybe the margins as well? It’s the same situation there as well.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Difficult to say. But we’ll certainly have better profitability and good numbers more based on our own utilization efficiency on cost, better absorption of overheads, you know, so that will give us more margins and definitive margins, market related volatility. Very difficult to, you know, estimate at this point in time. Maybe we’ll have probably better view, clearer view in next quarter. By then we expect this tariff and other things, you know, to get settled. It can’t prolong for forever. So whatever has to happen probably will happen and, you know, things will settle by then.
Rahil — Analyst
Okay. But it’s safe to say that the remaining of the three quarters will be profitable for the company.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Of course. Yes. Well, this is, this is very, very clear. Yeah.
Rahil — Analyst
Okay. Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. And all the best. Thank you.
operator
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Anuj Barakia — Chief Executive Officer
Thanks. So while external challenges stemming from various. Uncontrollable factors persist, we will continue to prioritize the development and delivery of high quality products for various applications, focus on increasing customer base and capacity utilization and further augment operational efficiency. We are confident that these efforts and. Actions will drive desired results in form of better profitability and growth in the future. I hope to have addressed your questions satisfactorily. Should you have any pertinent queries, I. Welcome you to reach out to our investor relation team. So with this, I thank you once again for joining us today and I. Look forward to reconnecting with you very soon.
operator
Thank you. On behalf of Wellspun Specialty Solutions Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.