Investors need to watch out for the reduction in debt levels and pick-up in volumes as incremental capacities start coming in
Just when the industry expected margin pressures to ease, coking coal prices started to rise.
JSW Steel has earmarked Rs 20,000 crore capital expenditure in the current fiscal and hoped that headwinds such as export duty on steel and high coking coal prices are likely to be short-lived, a top company official said.
Mitsubishi, the biggest of Japan's clutch of trading houses by assets, said net profit for April-June was 117.8 billion yen ($1.06 billion), up from 100.8 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.
The hike, effected across both flat and long steel products, adds to the price increases undertaken by the companies post Diwali in 2016, one source said.
Domestic steel demand remained largely stagnant in Q1 2016-17, with consumption growing by just 0.4 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) during this period, ICRA said in a statement.
The proposed hike is likely to take the price of hot rolled coil (HRC), the benchmark steel product, to Rs 38,500 a tonne from Rs 37,500 per tonne now, said an industry source, declining to be identified.
Steel companies are likely to report a muted performance for the June quarter due to lower volumes on account of demand worsening during the quarter.
India's food price index rose 9.42% and the fuel price index climbed 12.79% in the year to March 5, government data on Thursday showed.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, managing director of Gujarat NRE Coke highlighted that coking coal prices have touched the record levels of USD 330 per tonne because the previous contract high was USD 305 in 2008.
The much awaited initial public offer (IPO) is likely to roll out in the next three to four months, said Sushil K Maroo, Director and Group CFO of Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL). The IPO is targeting to raise Rs 7200 crore.
Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Managing Director of Gujarat NRE Coke expects coking coal prices moving up rapidly due to the panic buying situation."Queensland supplies almost 30% to 35% of the total global coking coal. The supply is suffering very heavily due to floods and there is a panic buying situation now," he explains.