Commodity and Cyclical Plays

Views of @Rakesh_Arora sahab and @kb_snn sahab seems contradictory. If China is slowing down and hence decrease in its consumption it could lead to 2015 situation where China dumped steel all around the world causing price to collapse. But if china is decreasing its output in tandem with consumption then would keep steel prices firm.It should also be net postive for Indian steel players in short run and long term.
Hence , Indian steel companies should attract higher PE ratio because its share is only going to increase like what happened in API sector.

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Reduction by China may not be due to poor demand. It seems that they are forced to cut production due to pollution norms… any production cut by China is a win win situation for India.
Other factor which is affecting steel price in India is the new iron ore mining policy… Govt wants more share in Iron ore mining. New auctions are getting costlier and costlier. It is difficult to produce iron ore at cheaper rate now… Many companies who won the Iron ore mines in auction were unable to start mining as it was not profitable for them. High Iron ore price likely to keep the steel price higher only. Those who are having captive mines will be having advantage…

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Read the latest note from steemint on China’s export policy

Also please note that we have given free access to Steel Mint. If anyone keen to track can go and read highlights of what’s happening. GIA Stocks

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I am in full agreement to this … China’s direction is clear - It will reduce virgin steel capacity impacting global iron ore demand … That will increase Chinese competitiveness in steel

"The mills should resist exporting and, secondly, instead of exporting regular or low-end products, should concentrate on exporting high value-added items, ++ Increase in EAF steel production

This is how US , EU , Japan and Korea have moved up the value chain once they completed basic infra development .

The question is what is game for Indian steel players …

Game for Indian steel players is what happens to supply and demand in India and how the industry will be protected from imports … Remember till 2 years back Indian steel players wanted protection from Japanese and Korea imports and Govt imposed MIP for their support .

So Indian players less competitive - unless when Iron ore prices are high because Japan , Korea and China all depend on Brazil and Australia for the same …

The Indian steel players can only hope GOVT will not penalise them for excess profiteering in this cycle . Already GOVT has moved steel players out from Recently announced export benefit scheme … Hope GOVT is not much harsh on them in future

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He is of the view that, steel price may not come down because input costs have gone up. And iron ore price softening will help them sustain margins. Iron ore producers will be impacted because of China cutting production.

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Why did the price of iron ore plummet

Following are the reasons

  1. China’s import of iron ore in the month of July fell by 21.4 per YoY to 88.5 million tons due to achieving the dual-carbon goal (burning coke and carbon coming out of smelting ore)
  2. China acquired part of the project of the Simandou Iron Mine in Africa, the world’s largest iron ore
  3. China Abolish the steel export tax rebate. Chinese steel companies work on very thin margin, abolishing export incentives has impacted profitability, drop in steel production
  4. Increased usage of steel scrap directly into arc furnace. Steel scrap prices started going up
  5. Australian iron ore is considered the best quality, due to geo political tensions China wants to punish Australia hence they stopped import of iron ore and coke
    Iron ore prices are cyclical, IMO the prices will come back when US’ investments kick in, for infrastructure as part of the 3.5T USD
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I also read that July and August are historically low demand months
The prices have not dropped below June highs so this quarter results for steel companies should still be as good as June quarter

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JSW Steel’s Seshagiri Rao On The Ongoing Steel Cycle: Talking Point - YouTube Talks about steel industry in general and JSW steel in particular

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GUJ ALKALIES have increased caustic prices again . its around 34000 today.

disc : tracking caustic price as invested in TGVSL

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Where we can track price increase of Cautic soda by Gujrat alkali.
Can u share the link.

Call up local dealers. Gacl website has list of dealers. A few of them pick up. North India follow pacl. Prices have stabilized for now between 32-34k.

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Fantastic insights in the video. He mentions increasing Electrode prices. Couple with global move towards pollution reduction (BOF to EAF/DRI), robust demand both domestic as well as Western markets and upcoming Infra spend in US and EU, this really setups Graphite Electrode makers are chief beneficiaries - irrespective of (some) volatility in Ore, Coke or Steel prices. In my opinion, this is the safest way to play the cycle.
Disc. Invested in GIL and HEG and continue to nibble in corrections

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In TGVS report they have said that caustic import in India is down to below 10 % from 16 % gradually , that’s helping in price rise too

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Report on Aluminum -

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With crisis surrounding Evergrande and its spillovers , and US tapering, Is it correct to consider end of supercycle or at least beginning of the end of supercycle.

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Evergrande is a real estate company.
Iron ore is imported by steel companies in China.
And, China has reduced their steel output and exports deliberately to increase steel prices and reduce iron ore prices.
As a result, global steel prices continue to be at record highs.
Today Billet prices in India are up by 1.3% and touching highs.

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Good article on the recent rally in LNG prices:

The Dangerous Rally In Natural Gas Prices | OilPrice.com

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