India’s JSW Steel misses Q3 profit view amid lower prices, slow demand

BENGALURU: India’s JSW Steel reported a bigger-than-expected drop in third-quarter profit on Friday as lower prices and tepid demand continued to hurt the country’s top steelmaker.

Its consolidated net profit plunged 70% year-on-year to 7.17 billion rupees (about $83 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Analysts, on average, had expected profit to fall 62% to 9.28 billion rupees, as per data complied by LSEG.

Domestic steel mills have grappled with an influx of steel imports from China over the past year, with shipments hitting an all-time high in the April-December period, a 35.4% increase year-on-year.

Moreover, domestic demand also remained muted in the third quarter due to lower construction activity and project delays after government spending cooled off following the national elections last year, according to analysts. As a result, JSW’s revenue from operations dropped 1.3% to 413.78 billion rupees.