JSW Q2 Steel production improves to Pre-Covid levels

Biznextindia: Despite a weak demand scenario, JSW steel has reported 30 per cent growth in its Q2 (July-September) crude steel production at 3.85 million tonnes (MT) against 2.96 MT in the Q1.

However, JSW has managed to improve its quarterly steel output to its pre-COVID level which was 3.97 MT in the January-March quarter (Q4 FY20).   Also, on Year on Year basis (YoY), the crude steel production has remained flat.

With this, the company has achieved an average capacity utilization of 86 per cent in the second quarter in line with pre-COVID level of 85 per cent in the Q2 last year.

Overall, JSW has reported 16 per cent drop in its crude steel output at 6.81 MT in the first six months (H1) from 8.08 MT in the H1 of 2019-20. While, the production of flat-rolled products dropped by 13 per cent to 490 MT, the production of Long Rolled products dropped by 35 per cent to 1.22 per cent.

The production of Rolled products (Flat) grew by 38 per cent (YoY) to 2.84 MT from 2.96 MT in the previous quarter. The Sajjan Jindal led company has witnessed a 69 per cent growth in its Long Rolled products output to .77 MT as compared to .45 MT in the Q1 of FY21.

While the flat steel products are used in the white goods industry, the long products are used mostly in the construction sector.

In the second quarter, India’s overall steel consumption has declined by 7.5 per cent while steel production was down by 1.9 per cent.