Global markets for refractories shrinking, only India, the Middle East offer Growth: RHI Magnesita CEO Stefan Borgas
«If you look five years into the future, North America is stagnating in terms of industry, Europe is shrinking, South America is shrinking. Southeast Asia is totally dominated by China, and China is shrinking really, really fast,» Borgas told ET in an exclusive interaction. The only growing parts of the world are India and the Middle East," he said.
Refractories are used in the production of steel, cement, glass, aluminium and copper. RHI, which supplies to every steel and copper plant in the world, 80% of cement plants, and half of aluminium plants globally, believes that growth in India could be between 6% and 13% on a compound annual basis over the next five years.
The global major's three key regions-North America, Europe, and Middle East and India-are currently around ₹1 billion in revenue each. While both North America and Europe were larger than ₹1 billion in revenue five years back, India has grown from ₹300 million in the same period. «You could see the velocity-three times. And in our case, it grew three times because of acquisitions,» Borgas said.
In 2023, RHI Magnesita completed the buyout of the Indian refractory business of Dalmia Bharat Refractories. Other recent acquisitions in India include a plant from Manishri Refractories & Ceramics and Hitech Chemicals, with the combined value of these three acquisitions at around ₹2,500 crore.
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