By Neha Arora
NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (Reuters) - India's Jindal Steel and
Power Ltd (JSP) has received a flurry of enquiries
from European buyers seeking finished steel products, indicating
an uptick in exports in the current quarter through March, a
senior company executive said on Tuesday.
His comments come after JSP reported a nearly 68% drop in
profits for the quarter ended Dec. 31, hit by the government's
decision to levy an export tax in May last year on some steel
intermediates and a fall in global demand. "We did see some increase in the order book and a lot of
enquiries (from Europe)," Bimlendra Jha, managing director of
Jindal Steel and Power, told Reuters in an interview.
Hit by the government's decision to levy the export tax,
India's overall exports of finished steel more than halved
during the first nine months of the fiscal year that began in
April 2022.
That sharp drop forced the government to lift the export tax
in November, but steel companies have complained about a loss of
share in traditional markets, including Europe.
"It is not as if there is a huge move that will occur but
there is some respite," Jha said, suggesting his company expects
exports to pick up only gradually.
During the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the
share of JSP's exports to its overall sales dropped to 5% from
23% a year earlier.
Jha said rising costs of raw materials such as coking coal,
especially since the end of December, had led to a rise in steel
prices in India.
But domestic demand was expected to be robust, particularly
from the infrastructure and construction sectors, he said.
Allaying fears of cheaper steel imports flooding the Indian
market, Jha said Russian cargoes did not pose a major challenge
to Indian steel makers.
"Just because there are few distressed cargoes here and
there, I don't think there is much reason to worry (about
Russian steel imports)," Jha said.
Last week, JSW Steel Ltd , the country's top steel
maker, said there were concerns about the potential dumping of
steel from China and Russia into the country.
(Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Mayank Bhardwaj and Mark
Potter)
