India: RINL's Nov inventory up 41% m-o-m as demand stays subdued

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited's Nov'21 inventory levels increased 41% or 90,000 tonnes (t) m-o-m to 0.310 million tonnes (mn t) against 0.220 mn t seen at the close of Oct'21. RINL, along with other mills, battled inventory in November, which is a cause for concern because of the dull exports scenario.

Not many fresh bookings have been seen for December while those for November too had been low, as per information available to SteelMint, because of weak demand. The billets exports market in November was dull also due to bid-offer disparities.

Sales

RINL's Nov'21 exports rose 24% to 0.137 million tonnes (mn t) against 0.110 mn t seen in Oct'21. However, these cargoes comprised previous shipments which got delivered in November. There is demand drop from China because of its production curbs. Although Egypt has removed the safeguard duty of 25% and 15% on imports of rebar and billets, the impact of this measure will only be felt in the months ahead.

RINL's overall sales were down 31% m-o-m in November to 0.31 mn t against 0.44 mn t seen in October because of the sluggishness in domestic demand for finished steel, which has forced all mills to reduce list prices for December.

Domestic billet prices were under pressure due to the price reduction in iron ore and pellets.

Crude steel production dips

The PSU's crude steel production dropped around 50,000 tonnes to 0.398 million tonnes (mn t) in November against 0.450 mn t recorded in Oct'21. It may be recalled RINL had faced some technical glitches in its BF3 which had reduced production to an extent.

Consequent to this particular blast furnace being in maintenance mode from end-October, production in November was impacted.

RINL's turnover for the month of November was at INR 1,640 crore.