Steel Authority of India Ltd
NSE:SAIL
Steel Authority of India Ltd
NSE:SAIL
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Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Steel Authority of India Q3 FY '25 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Nuvama Wealth Management Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Hazel. Good morning, everyone. So on behalf of Nuvama Institutional Equities, we welcome you again on SAIL Q3 FY '25 post results con call. We are delighted to have Executive Director of Finance, Mr. Praveen Nigam, along with his team. Now I will request Mr. Nigam for his opening remarks, and then we can open the floor for Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Kejriwal. Good morning, everyone. I welcome all our investors and analysts who are joining this result con call for the financial result of SAIL for the period Q3 and 9M financial year '25.
Before I present the highlights of the results, I would like to briefly apprise the house about the global as well as the domestic economic scenario in which we have operating of late as these impact the results significantly. After the presentation on the economic scenario and the results, we shall take a few queries in the Q&A session.
Now as for the world economic scenario is concerned, the global -- the current global economic landscape is characterized by moderate growth with the International Monetary Fund projecting a global GDP increase of 3.3% for both 2025 and 2026. This growth is, however, uneven across regions, influenced by factors such as trade policies, inflation rate and geopolitical tensions. The projection for emerging and developing economy stand at similar level as of 2025 and 2026. That is at 4.2% to 4.3%. On the other hand, the advanced economy sees a marginal improvement in the projection for the 2 years, that is 2025 and 2026, at 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively, compared to the estimate for the 2023 at 1.7%.
Announcement of 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. has raised concern amongst global producers about the potential retaliatory measure and impact on the global trade pattern. The imposition of tariff by U.S. has also led to increased volatility in the global market. While U.S. steelmakers stock have surged in anticipation of gaining a competitive advantage, global producers are experiencing decline.
Additionally, concern about raising inflation and protectionist policies has emerged with bearing impact depending upon countries and industries involved. As far as the global steel industry is concerned, global steel industry is navigating a complex landscape influenced by economic trends, trade policies and technological advancements. The global economic scenario in 2025 presents both challenges and opportunities for the steel industry.
While certain regions may benefit from protective trade measures, the overall impact is complex. With potential for increased costs, market volatility and shift in global trade dynamics, the World Steel Association forecasts a 0.9% decline in global steel demand for 2024, reaching 1,751 million tonnes. A modest recovery is anticipated in 2025 with the demand expected to increase by 1.2% to 1,772 MT. Meanwhile, the steel industry is increasingly focusing on sustainability and technological advancement.
There is a growing emphasis on reducing carbon emission through innovative production method and adoption of renewable energy sources. The integration of artificial intelligence and automation is enhancing manufacturing processes, improving efficiency and reducing costs. In Indian economy, the Indian economy has also been impacted on global cues with the advanced estimate for the GDP growth for financial year '25 being estimated at 6.4%, down from 8.2% achieved during financial year '24. The Reserve Bank of India has reduced its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, marking the first rate cut in nearly 5 years.
This decision aims to stimulate economy -- economic growth amid easing inflation, which is approaching the RBI's target of 4%. The RBI anticipate a growth rate of 6.7% in the fiscal year 2025-'26, slightly higher than 6.4% estimated for the current fiscal year. India is, however, pacing much better than its counterpart bolstered by strengthening of policy framework and increasing demand.
The World Bank note that India's service exports have remained robust and the current account deficit is narrowing, indicating a strong external economic position. The economy -- Indian economy has countered the forces of inflation better than the other economies, thereby maintaining relative stability in the domestic market. Despite the projection for GDP growth rate in near future is coming down in the range of 6.5% to 6.7%, India continues to maintain its position as one of the fastest growing amongst the major economies.
Now let me talk about the Indian steel industry. Indian steel industry is experiencing significant growth driven by robust domestic demand and strategic investment. Despite all challenges, including the softening of the steel prices, Indian steel industry has consistently been growing in terms of production as well as consumption. During financial year '25, that is still January '25, crude steel production has grown by 4.5% over CPLY. At the same time, finished steel consumption has grown by 10.8% during the period over CPLY.
As per the World Steel Association, India has emerged as the strongest driver of demand for steel since 2021, and projected to grow at more than 8% during '24 and '25. Indian steel demand will continue to charge ahead driven by continued economy -- continued growth in all steel using sectors and especially by continued strong growth in infrastructure investment. The top line and the bottom line for Indian producers have been impacted as the prices declined consistently.
We are hopeful that the prices have bottomed out and considering that we are now in the fourth quarter, which is traditionally the strongest for the steel industry, the industry is hopeful for better results in the coming quarter. With the prices of imported coal also remaining in check, Platts index for hard coking coal of Australian origin stand at USD 188 per tonne. The industry can also have a sigh of relief on the cost front. The Indian steel industry is poised to continued growth, supported by strong domestic demand, strategic investment ,however, addressing challenges such as import competition and environmental sustainability will be crucial for maintaining this positive trajectory.
As far your company performance is concerned in the 9-month period, coming to the performance of the company, the performance of the company during this 9-month period stand as below. The crude steel production at 14.1 MT stood at similar level as compared to CPLY when it was 14.2 MT. At the same time, saleable steel sales volume was at 12.54 MT was also in the similar range of the CPLY, which was 12.46 MT.
The performance by the CMO, that is the Central Marketing Organization in the domestic market has been higher by 1.8% over CPLY while the sales by the plant have also grown by 25.8% during the period over CPLY. The export, however, has come down by 73.7% over CPLY. While the NSR declining by more than 6.5%, the turnover fell by 5.5% over CPLY and stands at INR 72,595 crores. On the profitability front, the company registered an EBITDA of INR 7,983 crores, profit before tax of INR 1,445 crores and PAT of INR 970 crores.
With the concern of rising borrowing, we are happy to share that the borrowing during the quarter had been reduced by INR 1,700 crores. Borrowing at the end of Q3 of financial year '25 stood at INR 33,907 crores as compared to INR 35,596 crores in Q2 of financial year '25. The borrowing as on date stands at INR 32,600 crores as against INR 30,593 crores, which was at 31st March 2024. As far as the sustenance and operational efficiency is concerned, in the area of operational efficiency, the company has been making steady progress for reducing coal coke consumption, increasing the usage of CDI, bringing down the specific energy consumption and improving the blast furnace productivity.
SAIL is undertaking various drive towards decarbonization in 3 phases, with the first phase having brought down the specific CO2 emission by almost 20%, the company is now gearing up to bring it down further by 12% to 2.19 tonne -- per tonne of crude steel by 2030, '31. SAIL plant and units have entered into a number of MUs with the renowned suppliers, technology providers, et cetera, towards decarbonization drive.
Continuing with the drive towards improving the product mix, the proportion of semis in the saleable steel production stood at less than 14%. By engaging conversion services in and around the plant, or demand sector, the percentage share of semis in sales has been even lower at 8%. Steps are being taken -- are being envisaged for further reduction in the proportion of semis in the product mix under the next phase of expansion.
Going forward, the boost from the various measures announced by the government of India in the recent union budget like INR 1.5 lakh crores outlay in the infrastructure, extension of Jal Jeevan Mission up to 2028, incentivization of power sector reform, creation of INR 1 lakh crores Urban Challenge Fund, creation of Maritime Development Fund of INR 25,000 crores, et cetera, augurs well for steel demand in the country.
We are hopeful of realization and consequent margin will improve for the company in the quarter to come as the overall outlook positive for sustained growth in the domestic consumption.
With this word, I hand it back to Mr. Kejriwal for opening up the Q&A session. I'm sure you all have lots of queries on our performance. Thank you. Mr. Kejriwal, over to you.
[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec.
Sir, my first question is, what should we make of government's thinking of potential safeguard duties, import duties. We have heard a lot about it, but nothing has happened as yet. So how are you looking at it? That's the first question. The second question is on the cascading royalty. I think Supreme Court had given a deadline of 7th of Jan. It got pushed out to 7th of Feb. Is there a specific update over there? That's the second question.
And the third question, sir, if you could give your thoughts on Karnataka proposed taxes on which way it can actually go forward? Or can the center curb or put a tap on the extent of levies that the state government can potentially propose? So these are the 3 questions.
As far as safeguard duty is concerned, as you are aware that we have given all our input to the ministry, whatever was required, and there was a demand of 25% of the CPLY duty. The issue is still pending with the Finance Ministry. We are also waiting for the outcome of the decision of the Finance Ministry. As of now, there is no such communication from us -- from ministry to us, which we can share. The only thing we can share is that we have given all the input which are required. And now we are waiting for the decision of the ministry. As far as the royalty is concerned, that is based on the Supreme Court decision.
We have our mines at 3 locations, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. In Jharkhand, they have already levied a stress of INR 100 per tonne on the mineral. Orissa and Chhattisgarh have not yet come out with any such proposition. We are waiting. The moment something comes from the government, we will be in a position to update you. As far as Karnataka is concerned, we do not have any operation in Karnataka or any mines in Karnataka. So that is not going to have any impact as far as sale is concerned.
Sure. That's helpful. And sir, just a bookkeeping question. Sir, how did the flats and the long prices move from Q2 to Q3? And if you could highlight with the current spot prices also, that would be quite useful.
Yes. As you see as is the long is concerned from Q2 to Q3, Q2, it was around INR 52,000, which has increased in the Q3 as long is concerned, INR 53,400. You can say roughly INR 1,300 has increased as far as long is concerned from quarter 2 to quarter 3.
Flat has also -- was INR 49,000, which has come down to INR 46,800. You can say roughly INR 2,000 per tonne, the prices have gone down. Overall, if you see that both flat and long, so in Q2, it was around INR 50,500, which has come down to INR 49,700 or you can say roughly INR 800. So there has been some decline because of the stress in the flat market.
As far the future is concerned, yes, we have a positive indication for the market. We are expecting that the prices will increase in the coming months. Exact price, we cannot declare right now because it is still in the consideration. But yes, there are a positive sentiment in the market for both -- particularly for the flat.
The next question is from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities.
Congratulations for good performance in a very challenging quarter. Sir, 3 questions, if I may, from my side. The first one is on the sales volume growth, which we saw at 16-odd percent Y-o-Y in this quarter. Now this quarter, I understand was a period of very tepid consumption, at least in December. And none of your peers have shown this kind of growth. So just wanted to understand the specific area where we saw the demand in this particular quarter?
You are talking in terms of volume?
Volume, yes, volume. Sales volume.
Okay. Carry on. What is your next question?
The next question is essentially, if I look at your plant-wise EBIT, so Rourkela has turned around very well in this quarter. And Bhilai, if I exclude the rail price revision adjustment in last quarter [indiscernible] around. So just wanted to understand the drivers for that. The third one is on coal cost. If you could just let us know the coal cost that was there last quarter and what you see it going in this quarter? These are the 3 questions from my side.
Okay. So I will start with your last question first. That is the coal cost. The coal cost, if you say that -- I will talk about the blend cost. The blend cost in last quarter was around INR 20,600, which has come down to INR 90,200. So you can say overall, there has been reduction as the coal cost is concerned. That is mainly because of the reduction in the coal prices as far as the imported coal is concerned.
Your second -- what was the second question?
Bhilai.
Yes. As far as the performance is concerned, as you talked about Bhilai and Rourkela also, there have been consistent improvement as far as the techno-economic parameters are concerned. Apart from that, we have got, as you know, that reduction in the input prices and the input prices basically has led -- other than the techno-economic parameters for improvement in the performance.
And your first question was regarding sales volume growth. Just -- so last year, in Q3, our total sales was 3.81 million tonnes, which has increased to 4.43 million tonnes in this particular quarter. So there has been an increase in the volume. That is why our performance has improved. And if you compare with the Q2 also, then also there has been a growth because in the Q2, it was 4.10 million tonnes. And in the Q3 of financial '24, '25, it is 4.143 million tonnes. We have also said in our opening remarks that the total improvement was around 16.3% as the volume is concerned.
No, sir, I wanted to understand the drivers behind that because we have not seen this kind of growth in your peer company in this quarter. Which area of -- which sector do you see this demand traction?
[indiscernible] Mainly the increase in the consumer sector, that is infrastructure, where the increase has happened. In fact, if you see that in the last quarter, there was -- the sales was on the lower side, which actually is now debating as increased substantial increase. And the main is this consumer sector.
Okay. And just an offshoot of my -- coal, how is the coal cost expected to move in this quarter?
Coal cost in Q4 is expected to come down further because the imported coal price have further come down. Expected is that the imported coal will come down to around INR 18,700 -- roughly INR 19,000, you can say. So there will be further relief as far as the coal prices are concerned.
So you mentioned INR 19,200 as coal cost in this quarter, and you were saying that 19...
INR 19,200 was the blend cost. Now if we say specific to imported coal, so imported coal price in Q3 was INR 20,000, which we are expecting will come down by another INR 1,000 in Q4.
Okay. So on a blended basis, we can expect another INR 1,000...
Roughly INR 1,000, yes. Roughly INR 1,000.
The next question is from the line of Sumangal from Kotak Securities.
First question is on the prices. So you mentioned average was around INR 49,700 in 3Q. So can you share January, what was the average price or blended price for us?
Average blended price in January is hovering in the range of INR 48,000, you can say INR 500, INR 400 -- INR 48,400, to INR 48,500 -- INR 48,400, you can say.
Okay. So blended -- okay. So it is around INR 1,200 down versus 3Q average, right?
Yes.
Understood. Understood. Sir, next question is on the CapEx. So we were evaluating -- so first, can you share what is the 9-month CapEx full year guidance for this year and FY '26?
Yes, 9-month CapEx is around INR 3,900 crores. As far as the expansion is concerned, as we have told in the last con call that Stage 1 approval for the IISCO Steel Plant was given by the Board. The process is on for firming up this order. Bokaro and -- Durgapur Stage 1 approval has also been given by the Board. So now for 3, that is IISCO Steel Plant, Bokaro and Durgapur, we are in the process of firming up the cost. When the cost is finalized, we will go for the Stage 2 approval.
Understood. And sir, in the absence of -- while we are working on this, what could be the CapEx for FY '26 because this, we believe, will be more from FY '27 onward, right?
Yes. It will be in the range of INR 7,500 roughly, you can say, because the expansion CapEx will also start happening in FY '26.
Okay. And sir, these 3 plants put together, what is the capacity we are looking to add?
The total capacity -- just a minute. So it will be roughly 7.5 million tonnes, all the 3 pipe plants together.
Okay. And sir, can you give us some rough gross CapEx this 7 million, 8 million tonnes expansion will take? Could it be around INR 50,000 crores, INR 60,000 crores?
It will be in the range of around INR 55,000 crores to INR 56,000 crores.
Okay, okay. And spread across how many years?
This is -- this plan is for '30, '31, as we said in the previous con call also that our expansion, which is going to come across sales, will be happening by '30, '31.
Okay. Okay. But sir, that, we believe, was for 15 million tonnes, right? I mean this is only 7.5 million.
15 million tonnes, we are going for the phase-wise expansion. And in this phase, 3 plants have already got a Stage 1 approval. We are in the process of getting the Stage 1 approval of the [indiscernible] plant also. And the total expansion, what we are expecting by '30, '31 is 15 million tonnes. So you can say this also will come that the production of the facility will become operational and ramped up by '30, '31.
Understood. That's very clear. Sir, one question on the overall net debt. So net debt, so we were guiding for around INR 5,000 crores, INR 6,000 crores of reduction this year. I think we started the year with INR 30,000 crores net debt. So can we kind of share the latest thoughts on debt reduction by, say, fourth quarter end?
As I told in my opening remarks also that as of now, the total debt is around INR 32,600 crores, which is slightly higher than what it was in 31st March 2024. It was around INR 30,500 crores. In last con call, we said the same thing that we are planning to reduce our debt and bring down to the level of 31st March 2024. As you have said that in the Q2, our total debt was around INR 35,000 crores, which has already come down to INR 32,600 level. And we are expecting that by the end of this particular financial year, our debt will be in the similar range as it was in 31st March 2024.
Understood. Understood. And lastly, sir, any guidance on the volume front for this year and next year?
For next year, we are still in the process of finalizing our business plan. We cannot exactly comment. But this time, it is around 18,500 million tonnes -- 18.5 million tonnes -- crude steel, yes, 18.5 million tonnes crude steel.
The next question is from the line of Mohit Bhansali from Aryan Group.
I want to know what is the current inventory and what is the value of that inventory?
Yes, just a minute. Yes. So total inventory of finished and semifinished goods is 2.98 million tonnes, and the value of this is around INR 12,000, INR 13,000 crores.
Okay, sir. Sir, second question, regarding [Foreign Language] expansion -- CapEx. Since you are going for a very huge CapEx, I just want to understand what is the peak debt level SAIL wants to maintain because already the debt is increasing without expansion since last 2 years.
Your debt was around INR 13,000 crores at the end of March '22, as I see in the presentation. Now it has gone up to around INR 32,000 crores, INR 33,000 crores. So without any major significant expansion, your debt is going up. So when you go for this CapEx, further, you will take the debt from the bank. That is what I suppose. So what you -- do you have any picture about what is the peak level of debt, SAIL is thinking about?
First of all, let me answer that your query that the debt has increased. You see, the debt increase was because of the increase in the -- abnormal increase in the imported coal prices, which has pulled down substantially. So going forward, you can see there has been a consistent reduction as far as the debt is concerned without any expansion, which was in the range of INR 35,000 crores in the month of September has already come down to INR 32,600 crores.
And as we told that it will further come down by the end of this financial year, and we will be maintaining a level of at least the debt level of 31st March 2024, if not less. As far as the expansion is concerned, we are expecting that the peak debt would be in the range of -- our projection is that it should remain 1:1. But at the peak, sometime it might go up to 1.2, but not beyond that, whatever the projection we have made.
Okay, sir. So sir, expansion, don't you think that, first of all, you should control your cost, like your employee cost, your operational cost, even your net sales realization is not good as compared to private players. So don't you think that first you should improve overall your own performance? Because right now, your capacity is around 20 million crude steel that you are not able to produce because market is not that favorable. So don't you think, first of all, you should improve all your parameters and then you should go and generate some cash, good cash and then you should go for the expansion, sir?
As you see, one of the investors has asked a query what was the reason for our better performance as compared to our peer in the previous question, we said that we are in the process of improving our techno-economic parameters. There has been substantial improvement. So that result will come. As far as the cost is concerned, the cost will further come down and will give benefit to us.
Now it's a continuous process. It's not that first, we have to do this and then we go for the expansion. We are continuously focusing on improving our performance as the cost is concerned, improving our product mix, which will ultimately give benefit as far as the cash realization is concerned. We are expecting that going forward, NSR will also strengthen because we are expecting that there will be some relief from the government as far as the safeguard duty is concerned.
And the coal prices, which are continuously coming down and maintaining a level of $188 to $190 per tonne. So this all will give in generation of additional cash. So we will be in a position to maintain a debt-to-equity ratio of 1:1 on an overall basis. And I think debt-equity ratio of 1:1 with the expansion of 15 million tonnes is a good -- quite a good proposition.
Okay, sir. Got it. Sir, third question is around for your rail prices, so are we going to get revised rail prices next year? What is the current rail price you are getting from the railways?
You see price declaration probably would not be very good in this forum. We will give you offline. We have got the rail price for '22-'23 from the CA Cost. As of '23-'24 is concerned [indiscernible] to the CA Cost as you are aware that for rail price, railway has given this responsibility to Chief Adviser Cost. It is the Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance. They give the fair value of the particular product. For '23-'24, we are in the process of finalizing the price. It has not yet come. And we are expecting that soon it will come and it will give benefit to us.
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Pallav Agarwal from Antique Stock Broking.
So first question...
Sorry to interrupt, sir. I would request you to please use your handset.
Yes, I'm using the handset. Am I audible now?
Yes, sir. I would request to speak a little louder.
Sure. Sir, first question was on the coking coal. So with imported coking coal prices coming down, is there an indexation for domestic coal as well or domestic coal prices stay the same despite imported coking coal prices coming up?
Actually, the domestic coal prices have import parity with capping both upper and lower capping. So there is a parity with the imported coal. So naturally, when there is a parity, so there will be some reduction in the domestic coal price also.
Okay. But it may not be in the same proportion as the fall in...
Not in the same -- because there is upper capping a lower capping involved. So it may not be in the same proportion, but yes, reduction will be there.
Okay. And what would be the proportion? Is it 85%, 15% between mix between domestic and imported?
In domestic, yes, we are using a blend of, you can say, almost 85% of the imported coal and 15% of the domestic coal sale as a whole.
Okay. And are we still -- do we purchase any coke externally or most of it is captive coke?
No, no, no. It is captive -- we are producing, we are not procuring. There could be one-off cases where we might have procured, but otherwise, no, as a policy, we are not procuring.
Okay. And I just missed the CapEx number that you mentioned for 9 months FY '25 and the FY '25 guidance, if you could just...
I said that it was INR 3,900 crores in this particular financial year till December.
Okay. And FY '25?
Next year, that is FY '26, expected is INR 7,500 crores.
The next question is from the line of Pratim Roy from B&K Securities.
I have one single question that you mentioned that the 15 million capacity, it will come into the play. And what will be the time line for that? You mentioned FY '31. And if you give me the detailed breakup of 15 million tonnes? And secondly, how much cost will be incurred on that basis? And if debt goes up, then how much -- sorry, if the CapEx will go up, then how much will be funded through internal cash? And how much will be the debt portion on that?
Yes. As we said that our total expansion envisage by '30, '31 is 15 million tonnes, out of which around 7 million tonnes has already been got the first phase expansion in Bokaro, Rourkela -- IISCO, Bokaro and Durgapur -- and for this Rourkela and Bhilai steel plant, we are still in the process of getting this first stage approval. We cannot exactly tell the quantity of quantum, which is [indiscernible] in these 2 plants. But roughly, it will be in the range of, say, Rourkela, it will be around 3.5 million tonne additional and rest will be in Bhilai.
Durgapur [indiscernible] Durgapur. Okay.
In the second phase.
Okay, sir. And what is the CapEx for entire 15 million tonne expansion?
Around -- roughly, if you say thumb rule figure that it would be in the range of 110,000 to 120,000 of 15 million tonnes.
Okay. And...
[indiscernible] as far as Funding is concerned, we are maintaining 1:1. That is debt equity ratio should be 1:1.
The next question is from the line of Tushar Chaudhari from Prabhudas Lilladher Capital.
Sir, we had -- in earlier con calls, once we had discussed in 1Q FY '25 that we had a few long-term agreements for coking coal with a few of the coal miners. Just wanted to know, are they over? And when will we get the benefit of lower coking coal over the period? Can the imported coal cost go down to INR 16,000, INR 17,000 per tonne in the next few quarters?
Yes. As we said in the previous con call also, the long-term contract what we are having is a continuous process. And it will keep happening, it will keep moving in the same -- similar fashion. So there is no issue as far as the quantity is concerned for the coal mine is concerned.
So now with the lower prices also, we are doing long-term agreements with them, right?
Actually, you see we have a long-term contract, but the prices are determined by the Platts and Argus Index -- average of Platts and Argus index, the discounts are given based on that on the monthly basis. So there is no issue as the price is concerned. The moment this index comes down, the prices will come down automatically.
And secondly, sir, in this result, do we have any one-off item in other expenses? Because if I do it on a per tonne basis, it is quite low.
Can you repeat your question?
Is there any one-off item in lower other expenses, basically, other expenses is lower vis-a-vis prior quarters on per tonne basis. Per tonne basis is around INR16,000.
No, no, no. There is no specific head under the other expenses, which we can mention here. It's a general improvement, you can say, in all ahead.
The next question is from the line of Vikash Singh from PhillipCapital.
Sir, just wanted to understand one thing in -- out of all our plants, Durgapur has the largest semis component. So what is the basically any downstream projects which we are taking to build on the semis content, if you could give us some insight into it?
Yes, we have a plan to bring down this TMT mill there, 1 million tonne TMT mill and also on [indiscernible], 0.4 million tonne TMT mill. So the plan is to utilize the semis much as possible internally.
So by when these TMT mills are supposed to come?
The process is on. I think how much is [indiscernible] to stage has already been received. We are in the process of, as I told, the forming of the cost. And after that, it will take -- how much time will this take? Around 36 months. So you can say roughly it will take another 3 to 4 years.
So till then the semis component will continue as it is, right?
No. As we said in our opening remarks that we are in the process of tying up with the convergent retail, as our semis in the sales has come down substantially. So we are continuing in that process. We'll further increase our conversion agreement with the various parties. The efforts are already on to reduce the semis portion as far as [indiscernible] steel is concerned.
Understood. And sir, just a couple of calls back, you have given us some insight into our low-grade iron ore as well as pellet plant capacity to utilize this low-grade further. So any further update on the same, what is happening in the Jharkhand? whether we got the approval. And how our pellet plants -- when our pellet plants are coming up so that we can utilize Goa or which is not unutilized as of now?
As far as the Goa iron ore is concerned, that is sub-grade iron ore fine, which is lying here. For conversion of that into the pelletization, we are yet to get this first stage approval of the Board. We are in the process of forming up the Board note, and it will be put to the Board. And once the approval is given, we'll go ahead. But the plan is there to convert it to pellet.
Mr. Vikash, does that answer your question?
Mostly. Sir, any near-term plan to sell iron ore as well because we still have a permission in Orissa and Chhattisgarh?
We have a permission in Orissa and Chhattisgarh, there we are selling also. In Jharkhand, we are yet to get that local approval from the state government. If we get the approval from the state government, which we are pursuing with the government, we will sell also. There is no such thing that we cannot sell. But till the time we get the approval, we have to use it domestically, internally only.
The next question is from the line of Raashi Chopra from Citigroup.
Just some keeping questions. What is the current NSR for flats and long separately?
Current NSR, you mean to say Q3?
No. Current. Now you gave us the bended for January was INR 48,400.
For January, the NSR in the long was INR 51,500 and this flat was INR 45,800, bended was INR 48,400.
Got it. FY '25, what is the CapEx target as in what is the remaining for the fourth quarter?
FY '25, our total CapEx target was INR 5,700 crores, out of which INR 3,900 crores, we have already incurred by December. So remaining, you can say INR 1,800 crores in the next 3 months, that is January, February, March.
Got it. Then in the -- and what is the total -- you've given us the crude steel target for the year, but sales volume-wise, how much have you done in January? And what is the target for the full year?
Up to January, we have achieved the sales target of 1.57 million tonnes. And our total target, how much it is?
17.5.
Around 17.5 million.
For the whole year.
Got it. And just last question from me, you gave the total inventory for semi-finished and finished at 2.98 million. What is the finished good amount in that?
Finished good is 1.79 million tonnes? .
And this was 1.93 as of September, right?
Yes, it was 1.93 as of September. Yes, you're right.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Yes. Thank you very much. My closing comments are: the forecasts for the Indian economy by various agencies have been quite encouraging and the support by the government is strengthening the belief that the economy will continue to do well.
Steel demand also continues to prosper, and we are hopeful that the price will remain -- will maintain the momentum that has been gained post monsoon. Apart from the improvement in the operational performance, the company also remain committed towards sustainable performance, including emphasis on the decarbonization, improving capacity utilization, value addition and achieving cost competitiveness. I thank all the investors for their reposing faith in us, and I am hopeful that the same will continue in the future as well. Thank you.
On behalf of Nuvama Wealth Management Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.