Tata Metaliks' ductile iron (DI) pipes division disappoints a bit due to shutdown for a couple of weeks during the third quarter, but the pig iron segment did very well for them.

On pig iron performance, Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director at Tata Metaliks said, “The pig iron has been a star and this is led by two factors—one is the pent-up demand and the other is the shortage of supplies. The third reason is the way the raw material prices are moving up but there is always a lag and it also depends on who has control over coke.”

Pig iron spreads at Rs 12,000 per tonne but Kumar expects it to taper down in Q4FY21.

“Spreads are fantastic, upwards of Rs 12,000 per tonne which is typically on an average about Rs 5,000. As we go into Q4, expect these spreads to come down somewhat, but it would vary from producer to producer depending on who has control over raw materials.”

On volumes, Kumar said, “Pig iron market was doing well and DI was bit slow in terms of project funding coming in from the government. We would typically do it at the same levels, may be somewhat higher because the blast furnace would be in full flow this quarter so the volumes of DI pipe would certainly go up, on pig iron may be marginally up.”

On the waste heat recovery plant, the Tata Metaliks' Kumar said, “We are commissioning the new unit by next month and I think full production should start from March. That will also give us some more advantage as we go forward. More importantly, we will also have the fourth power plant coming in which is a 15-megawatt power plant which is to time with the new expansion of the DI pipe unit and that is going to take some time.”

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:Jan 20, 2021 11:03 AM IST