GHCL Limited (GHCL) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to GHCL Limited Q3 FY26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by MK Global Financial Services Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Meath Vora from MK Global Financial Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on GHCL's Q3-FI26 results conference call. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for giving us this opportunity to host them. We have with us today, Mr. R.F. Zalaam, Managing Director, Mr. Raman Chopra, CFO and Executive Director of Finance, Mr. Manu Jain, General Manager, Investor Relations and Finance. Before we begin this call, I would like to point out that some statements made in this call may be forward-looking. And a disclaimer to this effect has been included in the earnings presentation, shared with you earlier. I shall now hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, mate. A very warm welcome to GSL's Q3 FY26 earning call. I hope you had a chance to look at our results as well as the investor presentation uploaded earlier. Let me start with the industry landscape. The global environment remains dynamic and challenging. However, the domestic story continues to be resilient. We are seeing the healthy demand growth for sodas in India, hovering around 5%. This is a positive sign for a long term. On the supply side, the market continues to be oversupplied. We have witnessed a steady influx of import. For the first time in nine months of this fiscal year, import volume has noticeably increased by 10% compared to the same period of last year. This high level of import continues to put pressure on market realization. While this creates a challenging competitive landscape, our focus remains on what is within our control. We are focusing on enhancing our operational efficiencies and cost leadership to navigate these headwinds. Coming to our performance this quarter, I am pleased to share that we have successfully completed our planned maintenance shutdown during Q3 FY26. While this shutdown resulted in some loss of production volume, we managed the inventory and supply chain effectively. As a result, our top line for the quarter was not impacted. This demonstrates the strength of our customers' relationship and our planning capabilities. We remain committed to creating value for our shareholders. I am happy to report that we We successfully completed our Sail Holders Buyback program of Rubik 300 Gross. This reflects our strong cash generation ability and our confidence in the company's future. Moving to our growth initiative, we are in the final stage of our expansion projects, bromine and vacuum salt. Both projects are in the last leg of completion. We expect commissioning to happen towards the end of current quarter, that is Q4 FY26. These projects will diversify our business and provide new growth avenues. In Phil Sodai's project, progress has been slower than expectation. This project is a significant strategic investment and part of our long-term goals. In summary, while external factors like import presents challenges, GSL stands on a strong foundation that is backed by strong cash flow through volatile industry scenarios and our emphasis on the driving operational efficiencies. Bromine and vacuumed salt represents A change in product mix and diversification. With safety, sustainability, and operational excellence as key drivers, we are in the position to deliver to our shareholders and all stakeholders. I would like to thank all our stakeholders and our investors for their continued trust in GSEL. I will now hand over the call to Raman to walk through the financial highlights. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone, and a very warm welcome to our earning call for the third quarter and nine months ended 31st December 2025. Our performance remains steady. This is a result of our focus on operational excellence and efficient manufacturing. We achieved this despite the challenging pricing environment in the industry. I will now walk through the key financial highlights. Revenue for the quarter came in at 773 crore compared to 807 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year, and increased from 739 crore in Q2 of the current year. This reflects the tough global market condition, resulting in cheaper imports into India, which has adversely impacted our realisation. Ebitda for the quarter stood at 175 crore compared to 259 crore in Q3 of last year and 175 crore in Q2 of this year. We reported a beta margin of 22.7% in the current quarter. On a Q-on-Q basis, our beta margin declined by 100 bps, mainly due to the fall in realization. Our ability to protect profitability even in this environment is a direct result of our deep-rooted philosophy of cost control and operating efficiency. That's from continuing operations stood at 107 crore compared to 168 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year, and a similar profit in Q2 of this year. During the quarter, we have undertaken the plant maintenance shutdown, which led to temporary reduction in production. Despite the shutdown and subdued domestic realization, we maintained steady quarter performance, driven by strong operational efficiency and effective cost management. For the nine-month period, 31 December 2025, we generated 443 crore in cash profit after tax. Out of this, we spent almost 226 crore on CAPEX and 29 crore on repayment of loan, while working capital was released by 109 crore. During the quarter, we have successfully completed 300 crore buyback. This is in addition to 115 crore dividend payments made during the financial year. In total, we have rewarded our shareholders by distributing 415 crore rupees during the nine-month period of this financial year, which is 116% of paid for the nine-month period. In a period of external volatility, this move reflects the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to consistently rewarding the shareholders. We have net cash surplus of around 890 crore rupees at the end of the nine-month period, FI26. This financial agility supports our strategic capex execution and provides significant growth headroom. With this, I conclude my comments and now request the moderator to open the forum for question and answer. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Aditya Khetan from Smith Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions. Sir, recently we know that anti-dumping duty on soda ash has not been imposed. Coupled with this, we are witnessing 10 lakh tons import of soda ash consistently. How do you see the growth story of the company panning out in this headway? And considering the near-term expansions of bromine and salt, is this enough to like, to diversify the company from near soda ash into these smaller businesses? How you see the story panning out for the next two to three years? In brief, sir.

That is a very valid question, first and foremost. First and foremost, yes, you are right that anti-dumping duty has not been confirmed by the Ministry of Finance. But the positive side of this entire Sudaic business is that the growth story in India itself is, like I mentioned to you, growth story has been very significant. Just to give you a number, next year what looks like is that the way the green energy initiatives are being taken. And this will kind of enhance the demand perspective of the Indian sodas. Last year means the current year looks to be around 5% and this number could be better than this 5% in the next year. So demand definitely takes care of some of the import which is happening along with some of the additional capacity which has been built into the domestic industries. Second part, yes, at this point of time, there's a headwind, as I mentioned in my opening remark as well, because of the global demand supply situation. But a couple of things which are spanning, and we don't know how that will shape up in the coming forward, like the rupee devaluation versus the Chinese yuan appreciation versus the dollar. This is a kind of, I would say, is a positive sign. Second, the Chinese government's philosophy of evolution. Which they have introduced, and probably many of the chemical and some of our consumer, like what you call solar panelist, those kind of people, there will be kind of a competitive advantage to them will also happen. The third, I would say, at this point of time, the way the cost structure which we are seeing globally, I see that these kind of numbers look to be kind of a pretty on the bottom of the pyramid. So hopefully in the next two, three years, demand growth coupled with the economic recovery of some of the economy, we see kind of a good situation should happen to this industry. And last but not the least, So far the GSE is concerned, as I mentioned, in spite of such a high reduction in the selling price, we have been able to significantly operate our plant and efficiently operate the plant, and we have been able to mitigate to a large extent our margin erosion because of the cost advantage which we have done in the operational efficiencies. And this is going to be permanent in our, what you call, benefit. Once the recovery starts happening, this will have an advantage, both the advantage will have to us. In terms of your second related question, diversification of bromine and what you call vacuum salt, see, this is a strategic move, and I just wanted to highlight, we started thinking about this four or five years back, and on the continuous cross, possibility of explaining and getting a new technology, we have been able to navigate this into the diversification first time in this year. And this is a kind of a, I would say, is an add-on advantage because both these projects are more of a part of the GSM because to solve what we are doing is we are using the best energy. And this will significantly help us to kind of improve our bottom line. Of course, the number will be smaller, but these are the kind of a strategic move. Same way, brooming, from the existing salt capacity what we have, we have been able to build this brooming project, and this again will have an advantage of kind of a margin. And broadly, my understanding is that both these businesses, of course, the top line will not be very significantly higher. However, the margin percentage are going to be higher. And this definitely will add on to our bottom line. It will help us to improve our bottom line.

Got it. Sir, thank you for your explanation. Sir, you had mentioned in your opening remark that this quarter there was a shutdown. So ideally, sir, like, prices are similar to last quarter or I think they are slightly lower only, coupled with lower volume. So ideally, top line should decline on quarter-on-quarter basis. It seems to be like on a higher side, 5% up.

Is there any, like, No, Aditya, I'll just explain to you. Though my production is down, but my revenue is higher because my volume sell to the customer has been higher.

Which is why your top line has moved up. The cost of raw materials seems a good steep jump, roughly on a quarter-on-quarter and YY basis, some 20% jump we are witnessing. But on the inside, the top line has only grown by roughly 4%, 2%. So is there any some component of inventory losses or like we have not been able to pass on the prices of RM?

The cost of raw material will always have a kind of a component of the inventory adjustment also, like inventory adjustment I am talking about, finished goods inventory adjustment. Ok, ok. So, what are you talking about? Inventory losses figure? No, no, there is no inventory losses, I said inventory adjustment. See, cost of raw material represents the production which we have done during this quarter, right? And the inventory adjustment happens on the finished goods. So you have to look at in totality of both these things put together. And if you have any specific detailed question on this, we can always answer you on the offline. But there is no such kind of inventory losses into the system.

Sir, in your presentation, you have mentioned phase 2 bromine of 10,000 tons. Earlier, sir, you got some 12,000 tons capacity expansion. There is some change into that?

Bromine, see, bromine, let's say there are two components. One component is the existing sulfate that we have. There we have added or we have created a capacity of 2,800. In the new... Project which we have got, the government land, which is far off from here, there once we commission, there will be another 10,000 to 12,000 tons of the additional volume will come in. That will take few years, maybe, then only that will get added. For the immediate basis, it is only 2,800 tons.

Sir, just one last question. Country drinks in bromine and new salt field, at peak utilization, how much of epithelial diversification we can take place from this new business?

See, near businesses, as I said, if you look at the current, what these two businesses, vacuum salt and the bromine, the numbers of the top lines are not very significant. Though margins are significantly higher, but the top line is not very significant. So that average duplication from the revenue perspective is not going to be significantly higher.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rohit Sinha from Suniti Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for taking my question, sir. First, just I missed out on listening to that ADD thing. So, are we now completely in the case like this ADD is now rolled out completely or still there is a scope that after some time maybe the ministry will consider?

Thank you. So far as our understanding is concerned, the government, the finance ministry has to approve that within 90 days. That 90 days already passed, they don't communicate whether they approved or they have rejected. But 96 and 90 days have been passed, and as per the customary, we need to assume that they have not in favor of approving it.

Got it. Secondly, on the solar side, I mean, we have been quite positive on the solar industry in terms of demand for the sodide. So how much improvement basically we have seen in last maybe three to four quarters or five quarters since we have been focusing? And I mean, from five or six quarters back, what was the kind of volume? I didn't know.

At this point of time, the demand per month is around 11,000 tons. And in next one year, by March 27, that will go to 28,000 tons. That means almost around, you can say, 17,000 tons of the extra demand. And these are all projects which are Final which are under implementation. So 17,000 means we are talking about something around 2,40,000 or something of that number will be the extra demand will happen. Of course, it will happen on every quarter the increment will happen, but peak of the demand in March 27 will be 28,000 per month. So that's a very significant demand. So far as your question of in the last few quarters, You remember that a couple of quarters back, there was a kind of a duty, and there was a kind of a duty on the, or the injunction on the duty of the solar panel and solar glass import into, solar glass import into India. That has been removed, but... A few quarters back, only two quarters back, if my memory is correct. And after that, all these new projects have started getting commissioned. But still, I would say that this 11,000 ton, I don't have a specific number, but probably maybe this was around 5,000 to 7,000 tons, maybe a few quarters back. Now it is around 10,000 to 11,000 tons.

Got it. And lastly, on this bromine project, I mean, from next quarter onwards, what sort of revenue contribution we would be expecting? And I mean, my point is that we are seeing bromine prices quite increasing in the recent time. So have we started any interaction with the customers? How this thing will be talking to the revenue.

We will say that this blooming project will get commissioned by end of March 26th. The benefit of this project will be in the next quarter, first quarter of next year. The total capacity what we have is around 2800 tons. However, that will take some time to kind of stabilize. Quality needs to be established because you know that the first time we are going for the program project, we need to establish the quality also and things like that. Once everything gets settled down, then probably the number will be coming. Like I said, revenue will not be very significant. You have the number and you know the market price. Based on that, you can always easily kind of look at that number. It all depends on how this ramp-up happens and how the quality gets established. But we are positive that in 26-27, a good amount of bottom-line addition should happen from the vacuum salt as well as from the booming.

Our next question comes from the line of Jainam Gilani from Swan Investments. Please go ahead.

Since we had a shutdown in the previous quarter, what were the volumes lost because of that?

Approximately around 20,000 tons. And how much of our inventory did we liquidate during the quarter?

Yes, sir, because if we look at the overall realization, the realization for the sodas has been on the declining trend in this quarter also. But when you compare our revenue, our revenue has seen a marginal improvement or a flat on a sequential basis. So is that the inventory liquidation is to the tune of 10, 20 odd percent or how shall one look at the...

In terms of, like I said, production is down by 20,000 ton. Sales has not been impacted. Later, sales is better than the last quarter as well. And therefore, the inventory reduction has been there. A specific number, the quantitative number, we don't have at this point of time. And yes, you are right, the sales price has been dropped. During this quarter as compared to the last quarter as well. But because of, like I said, operational efficiencies and the higher sales, we have been able to maintain the top line as well as the bottom line.

Sir, when we say there is a significant improvement in the efficiency which has resulted into a better performance on the EBITDA level of the flight performance, so what sorts of levers do we have now to further improve on the efficiencies or we have capitalized almost all the cost levers that we had in the last quarter?

See, I would just like to highlight here that this is a culture which we have built over a period of time in the GSTL, where we never say that all labor has been exhausted. You know that when you become more better, then it becomes more harder for the further betterment, but that journey continues. If I remember correctly, last year, 24, 25 verses, We have highlighted that we have almost saved around 140 crores in the year by the operational efficiencies. Same way, the continue of journey of this year also continues. And at this point of time, I don't have a number that how much operational efficiency we have been able to build. But this journey will continue. How much that amount will be? Sometimes it can be higher, sometimes it can be lower. But I am very, I would say that, proudly I would say that we have been able to implement all the cost reduction projects or the optimization over the period of last many years. And this journey will continue in the future as well. And many opportunities are there, let me tell you. There are many opportunities in the raw material consumption, on the, what do you call it, on the power consumption, or on the steam consumption. The efficiency improvement, many such opportunities are there, and it will continue. Sure, sir.

And now when it looks, assuming that if the price of the soda remains at its current level, the next two years, we'll see a marginal growth coming from the bromine and the vacuum, which is a smaller project at this point of time. So once we scale up, definitely it will take time. But there is a significant delay that is happening on our grain field, on our regulatory approvals. So can you highlight at where and at what area which is getting stuck in terms of the approvals and when can we see an improvement on that level?

See, like very rightly you highlighted the point, you see, any project, when the Greenville project, when you go, the major hurdle comes in the land. And currently at this point of time, our major hurdle is on the land side only. We have got environmental clearances. We have got all other approvals, the land acquisition and the land usage change, there are some technical hurdles are there, and that we are trying to sort out. How much time it will take, it is very difficult at this point of time, because we ourselves don't know how much time it will take.

Okay, sir. That's it for my turn. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rohit Nagraj from 361 Capital. Please go ahead.

Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, first question is on the ADD front. So, are we planning to reapply for the ADD? And a light question to that, until December, we had the minimum import price restriction. So, has it continued from January or has it collapsed? Thank you.

First and foremost, from the industry side, all efforts are there. To look at some kind of a protection from the government, either in the form of ADD or in the form of other protection. There are many other opportunities are there, and we are working on that. So far as the MIP is concerned, this has got expired in 31st December, because at the time, the expectation of the anti-dumping duty was alive, but we have reapplied, and the things are under consideration of the government.

Question is on the broader industry perspective. So we have seen generally that Asia is a market where demand and consumption has been growing. Just wondered, your perspective, given that you track all the markets, is there any structural stagnation or decline in Europe and U.S., which are the developed countries, and because of which, at least for the short term, there will not be any material improvement as far as pricing is concerned, given that whatever volumes will be lost from deep geography, The incremental supplies will be able to take care of demand from the growing geographies, like said.

Let me give you a slightly broader understanding of mine. See, there are two things which have happened, and you know that China is the leader in terms of the, out of the total capacity, I think almost around 50% is in China itself. Okay. The two developments which have happened in the last two years. First and foremost, it's a new additional green, what you call, natural sodium commissioned. Almost around 10-11 million tons of the new addition has been done. At the time, the demand in China was booming because of the solar and the lithium iron. And like I said, last year it was around 14% demand growth. However, in 25... The demand growth in the solar as well as the real estate has been on the slower side. And 25, the demand has been de-grown by around one or two percent. So there is a demand supply mismatch in China, which has led to the oversupply. The second part, because of the geopolitical situation, even the Europe demand has been, has not been, has been not, right now I would say that they are more on, not growing, even in the last few quarters, it has not gone, gone down as well. U.S. is slightly improving demand of the U.S. However, because of China, because of Europe, that is a separate situation. So far as I say, India is concerned, as I mentioned in the opening remark also, That Indian demand has been significantly better. So if you look at in terms of the demand side, I don't see in this part of the world, Asian part of the world, there is any concern. The moment this slightly balance happens between this demand supply and slightly recovery in the Chinese demand happens, the things will be looking better.

Sir, the line for the participant seems to be disconnected. Shall we move on to the next participant?

Please do that.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Darshita from DSP Asset Managers. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, could you help us out with the sales volume growth for the quarter?

See, I've already given you the number in terms of the revenue, and we don't generally talk about the volumes.

Can you just give at least a number as to how much was the volume growth? You said it was positive for the quarter. I mean, it's okay if you don't give out the volume number as such, but if you could just help us out with the percentage growth.

Volume growth is roughly around 5 to 6 percent, plus 5 percent higher as compared to the same quarter of last year. Seven percent kind of a number will be there.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Darshan Diora from Invist Group. Please go ahead. Your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Here's your order, Bill.

Yeah, yeah, sorry. You know, so a couple of questions. The imports that we have been witnessing in India, which countries are they primarily coming from?

Listen, primarily the volumes are coming, historically has been coming from Turkey, U.S., Iran, and Russia.

It started coming in from China as well. which is coming up in Mongolia.

Completely. The 10 million or 100% has been commissioned.

10 million. Okay. Is there any more capacity expected to come up in that same region?

Yes, they are talking about a million ton new capacity which will likely to come in one or two years in the same location. And maybe they are looking at one more opportunity in the other location, but that will take some three, four years of time. I just wanted to highlight one thing here, very important kind of highlight. Even at the slower demand in the globe, even if the demand grows by 2%, we require at least 2 million tons of the new additional capacity to fulfill the demand supply. And therefore, the new capacity has to come in to kind of a balance of demand supply.

I mentioned earlier also on past calls, and that's totally taken note of. You know, in China, there is this involution campaign which is happening, you know, so in a lot of sectors, including the solar supply chain, you know, the government is trying to cut out excess capacity, you know, because unnecessarily margins are, you know, getting compressed, return on investment is getting compressed. Is that happening in the sodash industry also in terms of the synthetic capacities or the less efficient older capacities getting shut down?

This is likely to happen, as per our understanding, because all this, like a very right recent process, the many plants in China, which are less efficient, they are also impacting the environment, where also the Chinese governments are very concerned about it, and this is likely to happen. When it will happen, we don't know, but definitely that is going to happen. Second, as you rightly said, this evolution will also help. At this point of time, we are reasonably confident that the people are not making money, and this will definitely kind of a government focus will be there on that to kind of a make sure that all those uneconomical plans get shut down. The third is, this evolution will also help our consumer industry like solar in India to kind of an opportunity of expanding their capacity. All these put together will definitely help the V.A.J. producer.

And, you know, you mentioned important points, and just in terms of pricing, you know, we are probably at the bottom of the cycle, because at these prices, manufacturing may become uneconomical in several countries. Do you see, generally speaking, I mean, apart from China, you know, in Europe or in other parts of the world, any capacity shutting down because of the pricing that's prevailing today?

Yes, I think in the Europe, a couple of points have been closed in the 25s, and if the situation continues this way, probably the more acceleration of this would happen.

Any figure you can put on, what would be the capacity of the glass to shut down?

In the UK, there was one plant, which was around 400,000, closed in January 25, and EU, Poland, there was around 600,000 tons of the plant, which was closed in July 25.

I mean, in terms of countries that are potentially, you know, partnering with India in terms of trade, obviously the EU, but luckily, you know, Iran and Turkey are not part of EU. What to do any sort of treaty with India. Is there any chance of materials getting exported from U.S. to India, so to ash, or is it just logistically too far?

From the U.S., in any case, the products are getting shipped to India, historically, last couple of years. However, if you look at in terms of the cost competitiveness, they will be making money only when they supply to the markets, which are closer to them, like South America. So, from that perspective, okay, if they have a surplus quantity, obviously, they have to sell somewhere, and India will become a kind of a market for them. I don't think, because of this treaty, there was some kind of a change that should happen in this, in the supply chain situation. Like you very rightly said, from the factory to the, or from the location where they produce the soda to India, the cost of supply chain is very, very high. It is almost around, if my understanding is correct, roughly around $120. $120, which takes care of the plant to the port and port to the Southeast Asian market, including India.

Got it. And last question, just in terms of the greenfield. So, you did express that there are challenges in land acquisition. How does this delay the process of commencement? You know, what was our original timeline versus what would be?

I'm supposed to write actually what we originally thought of that has not happened and that is not likely to happen as per the original timeline. The moment we get all these clearances, it will take around two and a half to three years of time to complete. And honestly, at this point of time, I'm not very clear when this approval will take place. But still what we believe is that by 2030, we will be in a position to commission both the left if the situation demands. That means the phase one and phase two. Maybe at the time, depending upon the demand supply situation, we can take a call should we go for phase one or should we go both the phase together. But we are still reasonably confident that by 2030, we will be able to complete both these projects. Even if I take together also, it will take around three years of time.

Thank you very much, and good luck for C-Fall.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Arthur from ICICI Prudential Mutual Funds. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Like you mentioned, of course, China natural is one where expansion is likely to happen over the next few years. Any other geographies like U.S. where you are during that capacity is likely to come on the natural side? That is number one. And secondly, after this consolidation of Genesis v. Soda in U.S.

First and foremost, yes, U.S. has announced in the past that they will be adding another 5 million tons, but recently they have announced that they will not do this till 2030 when the situation improves. So obviously the project will get delayed. And in terms of this consolidation which has happened, I personally believe that it will not have any impact to the Indian Thank you very much, everyone, and welcome to the call. Overall, their economic kind of a situation will make them to sell to the remunerative market, which are more of a, what do you call, South East Asia or probably the Europe as well as the South American market. But yes, this volume which is coming at this point of time, if still the demand situation improves in the Europe or in the South American market, probably this import to India will continue.

And just one last question on, you know, the Chinese material which has started to come. Like, based on your best assumption, do you think the material coming from Chinese through this may be... Will they be making cash losses by selling in India?

And again, this number cannot be verified. They are making not only on the supply which they are making to India, they are making losses even into the supply to the other part of the world, South East Asia and other market as well. Because in the scientific side, the costs cannot be matched with the current prices what they have.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ansh Khimavid from Capital One. Please go ahead. The line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, my question is regarding the growing capacity. Sir, earlier you had guided that we would be doing margins around 40%, which is much better than what the competition is doing. Is it mainly because of the backward integration or is there any technological prowess also to it? So, I just want to understand how we're calculating that 40%. See, basically, this new bromine project, which we have added, is added to the salt field, which we are already operating. And therefore, for us, the cost will be only some power cost and some operating cost. Because the water flow, whatever we are taking from the sea, will pass through the bromine project, and that water will get used for the salt production. So, salt production continues. Usually we are taking out the bromine out of that water and that will help us to kind of not having any cost relating to the other cost. And therefore our margin will be better in this project.

Okay, and what kind of derivatives will be targeting in this area? What kind of derivatives would we be targeting here? For the bromine project?

At this point of time, we are not talking about the derivatives, because we have a small capacity, and this plan which I am talking about is only selling the bromine pure. But yes, we are exploring the possibilities of, in the future, how can we go to the derivative side. But still, we have not finalized any plan on that. Okay.

And you had mentioned in your presentation that we would be targeting a 10,000 ton in the phase 2. So... The question is to when will that phase start?

No, we have got the land by the government, and some formality needs to be completed in that. But that will take at least four years from now. Kind of a, when that bromine new project will start getting production out of that. Because we have to develop the soil field there, and after the soil fields are developed, along with that, we have to put the bromine project, and that will take three to four years of time. Okay, so is it a fair assumption to make that we'll be selling bromine to the conventional players in India only today? Or would we be targeting... Mostly, at this point of time, our target is only the domestic market, because the volumes are not very significant.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Saurav Jain from HSBC. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. Most of my questions have been answered. Just some data points. What would be the decline in soda ash prices in this quarter, and what would be your confidence or expectations around stabilization of soda ash prices at these levels? Question number one.

Yeah, so basically, as I said, at this point of time, the price in this quarter will be slightly lower than the average of last nine months. However, in terms of the confidence, it's very difficult to say whether this price will stay on this level or not. But, like I said, the way we are seeing the global cost structure and things like that, we see that reasonably that, okay, in the next few quarters, this number should be kind of a drop bottom. But whether some drop will happen from there or not, at this point of time, very difficult to say on a realistic basis. And how much was the decline in the third quarter? Approximately around...

Approximately around 3%. 3%. Okay, thanks. Secondly, when you talk about the imports coming from China, what would be China's overall share in Indian imports, and what price are they selling that product into the country?

See, first and foremost, China has a large capacity, and the volume which is coming is insignificant. Even with percentage, I can't tell you whether it's a 0.01% or 0.02% kind of a number. Well, the numbers are very small at this point of time. Number two, in terms of the pricing, it's a very dynamic pricing, and depending upon the consumer, depending upon the volume, they are negotiating the price. But in any case, whatever price we are selling, I think they are closer to the competition only.

Thank you so much and all the rest.

Thank you. The question comes from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor and Company. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Namaskar Jalanji. Namaskar Raman Saab. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, Saket. Sir, firstly, on the CapEx front, I think so, Raman Saab, you mentioned about 200 some odd crores total spent for nine months. Can you provide the break-up for the same? Where has the CapEx been spent?

See, Sakit, primarily this expenditure has been done only on the two projects. One is the roaming as well as the vacuum salt. Yes, of course, some of the capital is also spent on the regular, on the plant, which is our existing plant. And this is kind of a regular project which we do every year.

Thanks, sir. Since you have just articulated on the fact that we might be delaying, or rather, 2030 is the long-stop date for commissioning, what would be then the program from us on spending on the greenfield project for the coming next year? And I think, sir, we also outlined a 50-crore capex for a new office. Where are we, sir, in terms of that? How much have we spent, and when will we redoing the needful?

In terms of the greenfield, as I mentioned to you, the zero date we don't know right now, and therefore it is very difficult to say that what will be the expenditure next year. Once the zero date starts, then only we will be able to plan what will be the capex requirement for immediate one year. In terms of the office in Ahmedabad, most of the payment has already been made, and I think the handover of that office should happen in another six months' time. And once that happens, then probably we will move our office from Amdawar, from the current location to the new location.

Okay, sir, we have also seen that there is capacity addition from the other player domestically. So, taking that into foray and the duty benefits not being implemented, how do you see the domestic market behaving? Since we have taken the shutdown and now we are up and upstream, what has been our utilization levels for the nine months?

See, Sakaiji, in terms of the utilization, barring this annual shutdown, our utilization has always been 95% plus. Number one. Number two, in terms of the new capacity coming in and the demand supply, there are three factors which need to be taken into account. One is the Indian demand growth is good. Second is import. Import has increased. And therefore, the demand supply situation rebalancing is happening. Hopefully, in 26-27, probably, it will be a better scenario, so much.

And lastly, sir, there was one Coriandum notification also from the Director of Trade and the one which have recommended this anti-dubbing duty on 4th November, wherein they have highlighted about some error in mentioning the amount per dollar duty that was envisaged from the import from Turkey, Russia, USA, and Iran. That is dated 4th November. So there's the reference date. The notification of implementation and, therefore, the expiry of the system also changed or 29 September is the date that should be as 0.00. Thank you for interacting, and all the best to the team.

Next follow-up question is from the line of Aadishti Khaitan from Smith Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you, sir, for the follow-up. Sir, on to the demand certainty, any sort of a number or any sort of a clue you have got, like, so demand is at the bottom, and you have repeatedly mentioned that prices have also started to bottom out. Is it backed by some assumptions, considering even China has started now exporting? So, to the global markets, and we are, India is not importing much, but there could be a thing when China starts to import much in India. So, what is the assumption behind we have taken that prices have bottomed out?

See, Arith, there are two things. One, first, your question was on the demand side. See, as I said, normal demand in the Indian, typical industry, like your detergents and the chemicals. And the normal glass, flat glass, they are on a range of around 4 to 5 percent. Add on to that is the solar glass, which I just explained that there is a robust demand likely to happen because of the new capacity getting. Our assumption is the next year, the demand growth should be around 6 percent, 5.5 percent to 6 percent should happen. And this will create the additional demand of something around 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent. In terms of our adjunctions of the prices bottom out, as I mentioned in my other lot of questions, the way the cost structure which we are seeing globally, either in the natural soda diets or in terms of your synthetic soda diets, either in China or other parts of the world, Second, this evolution of Chinese, because China is at more than 50% of the capacity. The way that China is evolving their strategy of profitable growth, of profitable business, I think these are the assumptions which we are assuming that should be kind of a, should be giving us a kind of assessment. However, as I mentioned in my earlier call, it is an assumption. We don't know how the situation will come out. And this is all we have to wait and watch. But in the longer term, surely, I'm reasonably confident, maybe one or two quarters can be situation could be slightly more than worse than what it is today. But in the longer term, economics will play.

Sir, my second question is, I think, sir, in the month of January, this month only, so China has announced that they would be abolishing the export rates for the PV photovoltaic glass. Sir, is there any assumption, like, will this create a short-term run in prices of soda ash? Because when I calculated, there could be an incremental demand of one to two less turn in China. But you think, like, this could be a material booster or it could be only a near-term?

I don't know. I will be very difficult to kind of assess on that. Like I said, my understanding is evolution, because ultimately this evolution is the main theme which China is following. And this should definitely have a medium-term kind of a benefit to the entire industries, and more particularly to chemical industries. And as per my understanding, chemical pricing of the many parts of the globe, even including in China, had gone up. How that will sustain? Very difficult at this point of time, to kind of comment on that.

And sir, just a similar question. Suppose, sir, if India also started to reduce the export rebates, which we are giving on photovoltaic glass, you think like in the longer term, this could be a... A bigger problem for the soda ash industry is that we would not be able to export much photovoltaic glass, and consequently higher production of soda ash would keep higher inventories in the pipeline. So is this a bigger risk which we can foresee in the longer term?

At least not from my understanding. First and foremost, I don't think there is a kind of very significant export incentive which has been given to that, but we need to check that.

Good morning, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to management for closing comments.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for participating and asking the questions. As I have been always saying, As a management, our responsibility is to make sure that we deliver the best results in the current environment or any environment, and we make the business more sustainable, more cost-efficient, and more sustainable. And this journey we have been doing, and we will continue to do that. We will definitely capitalize when the market recovery takes place, and we will have that big advantage out of that. Thank you for your support and your confidence on the management, and we will continue to deliver on your confidence. Thank you very much.

On behalf of MK Global Financial Services Ltd, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.