JSW Steel chief explains the super steel cycle, bank credit, Omicron's impact, and Chinese influence on the export market.
The expansion of 5 million tonne capacity by JSW Steel has come when the industry is seeing a demand slowdown and prices are under pressure. The company is expecting the demand to bounce back sooner than later on back to government incentives and robust balance sheets of corporates. Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director, JSW Steel, spoke to BusinessLine on future outlook. Excerpt:
The underlying demand remains strong. In November, the market was affected by the cyclone and unseasonal rains. The kind of acceleration in demand expected in the second half of the fiscal has not yet happened. Things are slowly coming to normal. In between, international steel prices have fallen. Domestic stockists expect some correction in steel prices and are exhausting inventories before they place fresh orders. In the next few days, things will improve substantially. Nobody can continue not to buy new stocks unless and until there is no demand. All the leading indicators are showing a positive trend. Stockists are just playing a waiting game. It will not last long.