India: RINL's FY'21 liquid steel output drops 10%

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL’s) liquid steel production dropped almost 10% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 4.5 million tonnes (mn t) in financial year 2020-21 (FY21) against 4.98 mn t recorded in FY20. Crude steel production was at around 4.3 mn t in the fiscal year under review as compared to 4.75 mn t in FY20.

Total sales, however, were up around 4% to 4.45 mn t in the last fiscal against 4.28 mn t seen in the previous fiscal of FY20.

Company sources indicated that the drop in liquid steel production in FY21 was on account of the Covid-19 impact, as a result of which two of RINL’s blast furnaces had to be shut down for almost six months. At present, all its three BFs are operational and production is touching around 19,000 tonnes per day.

The share of exports in total sales in FY21 was higher at 1.3 mn t against a more modest 4.97 lakh tonnes seen in FY20. Exports kept the total sales figure buoyant in the last fiscal, since domestic demand had grinded to a halt for around two months of the lockdown.

Turnover for the fiscal under review was up around 13% to INR 18,000 crore. Chairman P.K. Rath said this was the second highest topline since inception.

March sales spiral up

Month-on-month (m-o-m), in March, 2021 liquid steel production was at 5.65 lakh tonnes against 5.32 lakh tonnes in February. Almost all the major steel mills had increased production due to a rise in demand and prices in March.

That demand was high was borne out by the fact that total sales in March touched a record 7.11 lakh tonnes against 3.84 lakh tonnes in February, a whopping 85% increase m-o-m. As a result of which the steel PSU was able to liquidate much of its inventory too. Its inventory as on March 31 was at around 2 lakh tonnes against the opening stock of around 4 lakh tonnes seen at the beginning of March. Year-on-year (y-o-y) Mar’21 turnover was up 42% to INR 3,300 crore against Mar’19.

However, with India in the grip of a severe second wave of the pandemic, RINL has set a sales target of around 5 lakh tonnes for April. Sources indicated that if containment zones and partial lockdowns happen then demand and supply would be impacted.

RINL recently posted on social media that in Dec'20 crude steel production was at 4.98 lakh tonnes and that the PSU has been superseding monthly production on a continuous basis thereafter. It achieved its best-ever monthly output of 5.37 lakh tonnes of crude steel in Mar'21.

By Madhumita Mookerji