JSW Group in challenging market conditions

The JSW Group posted a net loss of PLN 1,088.6 million, compared to the PLN 704.4 million profit the year before. EBITDA for the first nine months of 2020, net of non-recurring events, stood at PLN -80.5million.

 – The downturn in the European steel industry had adverse impact on the JSW Group’s financial standing, says Włodzimierz Hereźniak, President of the Management Board of JSW. However, after a very difficult second quarter, when due to COVID-19 economic activity was drastically limited, we recorded a significant increase in sales in Q3. The coke sales volume relative to Q2 2020 increased by more than 54%. In the case of coal, we recorded a nearly 30% growth. Unfortunately, our recorded sales prices, which determine the level of the Group’s revenues, were still significantly lower than in the period before the pandemic. The JSW Group also incurred significant costs associated with the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. They amounted to PLN 84.6 million. These included, among others, costs associated with COVID-19 infections among our employees, their quarantine, preventive measures consisting in employee testing and changing the organization of work to be able to continue the core tasks with increased employee absenteeism, explains the President of the Management Board.

Due to the epidemic, in the period from April to September, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa could not achieve the planned production volume, as a result of which in the first 9 months of 2020 coal production stood at 10.6 million tons and was 2.8% lower than the year before. Coke production amounted to 2.4 million tons and was 4% lower than last year.

It should be noted that in the analyzed period the prices of metallurgical coal and coke dropped significantly. The average price of metallurgical coal stood at PLN 457.13 per ton, down 32.4%. A similar drop was recorded in coke sales prices, which reached PLN 750.02 per ton, i.e. 32.7% less than in the corresponding period of last year.

Sales of the coal produced in Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa mines was slightly lower than the year before and stood at nearly 10 million tons in the period in question. This commodity’s sales revenues were down 28.4% and hit the level of PLN 2.6 billion.

Coke sales were 14.3% higher, while revenues on the sale of coke and hydrocarbons decreased by 22.7% and stood at PLN 2.3 billion. Total sales revenues in the JSW Group in the first 9 months of 2020 stood at PLN 5.2 billion.

As at the end of September, the JSW Group’s headcount was 30,695. Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa itself employed 22,152 employees.