'Tata Steel's European ops will be much better by Q3'

Narendran expects China’s 5-6% growth to be a major boon for the global economy. The company’s steel demand will be driven by consumption rather than investment, he said.

- Ujjval Jauhari, Mihir Mishra

Tata Steel chief executive and managing director, T.V. Narendran, in an interview, discusses Q4 results, obstacles in European operations, and prospects for domestic steel demand and pricing in relation to China’s economic recovery. He expects domestic demand to grow either at a rate matching or exceeding gross domestic product growth. Narendran expects China’s 5-6% growth to be a major boon for the global economy. The company’s steel demand will be driven by consumption rather than investment, he said. Edited excerpts:

When do we expect recovery for European operations that remain under stress?

We are not back to normalized levels since the demand compression happened in Europe. But with energy prices falling, user and consumer industry will start doing better. Gas and electricity prices have remained very high and at multiple times of pre-Russia Ukraine war. While prices have started settling down, we have a policy where we hedge 25% of our requirements three quarters ahead. So, we will get the benefits of lower spot prices, and cost benefits will take a few quarters to reflect.