By Sudarshan Varadhan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) expects demand created by cuts to supply from Russia and Ukraine to boost its exports to up to 40% of sales from 25% currently as it looks to take advantage of record high steel prices.
“We used to export about 25%, in 2-3 months time we will be exporting about 35-40% so that we can take a share of higher prices,” JSPL managing director V R Sharma told Reuters.
JSPL was India’s fifth largest crude steel producer in 2021, and competes with Tata Steel, JSW Steel, state-run SAIL and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS India).
“We are already booked till April 30 and we will be booking orders for the next one month till the 30th of May,” Sharma said.
Industry experts expect Indian and Chinese steel mills to ramp up shipments to Europe to make up for supply shortages from Russia and Ukraine.
India exported 20.63 million tonnes in 2021, according to Indian research and analysis firm Steelmint, mainly to Italy, Belgium, Nepal and Vietnam.
“The opportunity for Indian mills is that they can supply a big quantity and that will add to their profit lines substantially,” Sharma said in an interview.
However, AMNS India’s director of sales Alain Legrix de La Salle told an industry conference on Monday he expects China to be “much more present on the export market because of their low domestic demand”.
La Salle said he expected AMNS’s ratio of domestic sales to exports to remain steady as the company was taking a long-term view, adding that he expected most of the company’s exports to go to the Middle East.
(This story refiles to correct official’s initials in second paragraph to “V R” from “V K”)
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Jason Neely)
