JSW Steel, with its strategy of focussing on value added steel (VAS) paying off, is planning to increase the share of VAS in its product-mix, Joint Managing Director and Group CFO M. V. S. Seshagiri Rao said here on Tuesday. In a conference call after the company’s second quarter results, he said: “against 25 per cent earlier, we had targeted 33 per cent of VAS by this fiscal. We will do better than that.” He attributed the company’s improved results to this as also to the benefits reaped from cheaper international prices of coal and iron ore. The company saw a drop in steel prices, and had already corrected prices in the domestic market on October 1, he said. On iron ore availability, he said: “JSW’s iron ore imports will increase as there is none available in Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka. Total imports stood at 1.7 million tonnes in the first half of 2015, and is being estimated at around 0.9 million tonnes a month for the October- March period.
He also said the company would bid for coal blocks as and when the auctions took place. However, it had alongside filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, seeking review of the cancellation order.
On JSW’s proposed investment in West Bengal, he told The Hindu that while the company remained committed to the project, getting raw material linkages was crucial to the project’s implementation. “We have spent over Rs.500 crore so far,” he said.
JSW has physical possession of nearly 4,300 acres at Salboni, once a Maoist stronghold.
