Tata Steel sees lower China exports, higher prices
Tata Steel Ltd., India’s second-largest steel producer, is upbeat on prices as Chinese steel exports decline.
Chief Executive Officer TV Narendran spoke to Bloomberg News in an interview on the sidelines of the B20 Summit in New Delhi. Demand in India remains strong, though Europe will take until next year to pick up, Narendran said. He expects a decision from the UK government ‘in weeks’ on a proposal to fund the transition to greener steel production.
The shift to green steel in India will happen only after 2030, he said.
Tata Steel intends to resume trimming debt by a billion dollars this year.
The excerpts below are lightly edited for clarity:
Demand outlook?
Consumption in India is strong. Construction is going on though there was some flood-related disruption, auto sector demand is very strong. Most sectors are going to catch up with 2019 numbers which is great.
China has been a bit disappointing.
Post the removal of restrictions all of us expected it to bounce back. So did the Chinese steel industry. They started producing more but the recovery didn’t happen.
So China was exporting more than they did for the last few years and that was causing some pressure on steel prices internationally. But I think the worst is behind us. Chinese exports have started dropping a bit, so international prices are stabilizing a bit.
That is also reflected in coal prices going up a bit.
If you look at Europe, the auto sector is still doing quite okay. Construction activity hasn’t really picked up much. I do see a challenge in Europe for at least this calendar year.
The positive thing is last year we were hurt very badly by high gas prices, high electricity prices. All that is coming back to long term levels. So on the cost side we are
. Read more on economictimes.indiatimes.com
