Steel companies focus on exports to benefit from weak rupee The rupee continuing with its free fall against the dollar, steel companies are redrawing their export strategies to make the most of windfall gains coming their way. In this new found thrust on exports, Indian steel makers are increasingly looking at markets in the Middle East & North Africa, South Asia and even Europe to beat low demand at home. The fall in rupee will make imports costlier, thereby curbing the volume in next few months. This has brought some cheer to steel companies which are going through one of their most depressing phases. Mr. CS Verma chairman of SAIL said that "Rupee depreciation has helped steel exports which have gone up in last few months.” SAIL hopes to double exports to 7 lakh tonnes this year, up from 3.7 lakh tonne in 2012-13. Essar Steel, one of the largest steel exporters, hopes to raise exports by over 25% to 1.4 million tonne this year, up from 1.1 million tonne it did last year. A company official said that "We are exporting to Middle East, Africa, South East Asia, and even Europe.” Mr. Giriraj Daga analyst at Nirmal Bang Securities said that "Rupee depreciation, along with a weak domestic steel market and capacity expansions, is forcing steel producers to sell more abroad.” This year, steel exports crossed one million marks to touch 1.13 million tonne in what is a seasonally weak first quarter. A JSPL spokesperson said that "We want to increase exports to 15% of our increased production base in 2013-14. We see huge opportunities for export, particularly in Middle East & North Africa.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 05:54:51 +0000
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