How are you reading into this announcement that Bhushan has just made?
I believe this is a win-win situation for both the companies as Bhushan Steel would be benefited by the technology from the foreign partner as well as the international company would get something from the domestic market which is quite lucrative and would continue to stay lucrative over the years because of the raw material front in India. So I believe it is a win-win situation for both the companies and with Bhushan expanding capacity next year, so a marketing base given by the international player would again allow them to sell their products across the globe.
Now again steel prices are expected to go up, now what should be expect for the steel sector in light of that, the fact that there is an expectation that a number of companies are going to consistently announce price hikes in the months ahead?
Yes, we believe that steel prices would go upwards from end of January and start of February. This month we believe that prices would stay firm and not move up largely. This is because if you look at the last two months performance prices were quite lower due to seasonal factors. European consumption was not as high as the previous quarter and the European markets as well as US markets would come back and buy in Q4 FY10. So again a rise in demand as well as cost pressures have gone up. The prices of iron ore as well as coking coal has gone up largely over the last one month. So due to cost pressure as well as some increase in uptake from European as well as US players, I believe prices would go up from end of January.
We are just seeing that flash on Bhushan Steel. There is no plan of a stake sale at this point in time to Sumitomo. Let’s just get back to Bhushan in particular in terms of earnings estimates, I mean when do you expect the synergies to kick in and are you changing your estimates, what are they on Bhushan and in terms of your targets on the share price?
We do not have a coverage on Bhushan Steel, so we do not have any estimates. I would not be able to give much info on the number fronts on Bhushan Steel.