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PCBL · FY2025 Q4

PCBL Chemical Limited analyst Q&A

2025-04-29
Moderator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question -and-answer session. The first question is from the line of Aditya Khetan from SMIFS Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Thank you sir, for the opportunity and for the detailed understanding on the business. Sir, my first question is on to the outlook for the Carbon Black. I believe, sir, in the domestic market in FY '26 like most of the auto OEMs have guided for a muted set of growth. Even in the T yre segment also, the growth would be largely in the lower single digit. So, demand seems to be muted for carbon black in domestic. In times of this muted demand, are we able to compensate for the loss in volumes in domestic in the export market and how the trend in spreads generally takes up like when the demand is muted? Any thoughts on this, sir?

Kaushik Roy

Yes, you are right. In a way, Indian demand at this point of time for Auto and Tyre is naturally not very strong as you rightly said. And therefore, the Carbon Black demand in India will not be very strong, though there is a decent amount of demand, which will be there. And what is our plan is that while maintaining the leadership position in India, we will be focusing more on the international market. And our presence, as you will see going forward, will grow further. Just to give an example, about 10 years back, our international sales were around 80,000 MT in a year and already last year we have crossed 2 ,40,000 MT. So, we will keep focusing on the international market and keep growing further in the international market. You are absolutely right, while India might be a little soft at this point of time, but we will be growing more in the international market.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Got it. Sir, on to the international markets, it is rightly understandable that EU and USA, these are the two markets where we would be witnessing volume growth . Sir, in terms of number, if you can put , although we know that the ban by Europe on Russia has led to a supply g ap of almost around 6,00,000- 7,00,000 MT of Carbon Black volume. How much of that is compensated by China and India and what is the wallet share like if you can highlight by Indian players like especially for PC BL, how much we have reached the penetration and how much more room is there, sir?

Kaushik Roy

Yes, you are right. In Asia, naturally, our wallet share is quite high, but when you look at Europe and the USA, our wallet share is in single digit and therefore the headroom is quite large for us and we see that as an opportunity to grow both in EU and USA. And to be honest, we are putting up capacity that is the primary reason, 90,000 MT we are adding in this year, in Tamil Nadu and again in parallel almost we are initiating the project activities of Andhra plant. So, keeping that in mind, we are going ahead.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Got it. Sir, o nto the Aqua pharm, this quarter, definitely there was a good upturn in terms of volumes and per kilo realizations, any sort of change like which has happened compared to last quarter and we could see this trend to be materially on the higher side. Any sort of a demand uptake in international markets for Phosphonates? Anything has changed if you can highlight that?

Kaushik Roy

Yes, sure. I think I mentioned that there is a lot of opportunity for Aquapharm to grow in the field of oil and gas chemical industry, which is a very large one and our share is just about a couple of percentage. So, there is a huge amount of growth opportunity there, huge amount of headroom is there. It is the question of penetrating the market, penetrating the customer and expanding the geography and making the right set of products which is technically reached and precisely that is what we are doing. We had issues in terms of lack of skill, lack of leadership which now we have corrected and therefore, we have already started seeing in the last quarter there is improvement and going forward you will be seeing further improvement in Aquapharm’s operation. And there is also a lot of focus on better cost management, more efficiency in procurement and all other functions as well. So, on one side, we are focusing on sales, closely working with customers, expanding geographies, and expanding product portfolio. On the other hand, we are focusing on operations to improve costs. So, the combination of these two have reflected already in the last quarter. Going forward, it will be even more prominent.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Got it. And sir, the guidance of 15-20% volume growth in Aquapharm that will be maintained? And sir secondly, in FY '25 the EBITDA was Rs. 194 crores for Aquapharm. This includes the other income also.

Raj Gupta

Yes, it does.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

So, sir, how much would that be in this Rs. 194 crore EBITDA?

Raj Gupta

Other income was Rs. 11 crores.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Sir, for full fiscal FY '25?

Raj Gupta

Yes.

Aditya KhetanSMIFS Institutional Equities

Sir, just one outlook on the debt side . Sir, this quarter we have witnessed some decline in the finance cost. I believe, sir, like we were also doing the Capex of around Rs. 5,000-6,000 crores and the cash flow which we would be generating largely would be used for that expansion going ahead. Alongside sir, are we also focusing on reducing the debt? If yes, sir, what is the guidance for debt in FY '26 and ‘27?

Raj Gupta

Absolute debt level may not go down significantly from the current level unless crude goes down from here. We would be generating good cash flow, but we also have a Capex pipeline, not Rs. 5,000-6,000 crores, but in the next 5 years, we will be spending around Rs. 3,500 crores. So, on average, about Rs. 700 crore every year will be the Capex run rate and consequently , absolute debt may not go down significantly from the current level. Interest rates have started cooling off a small reflection of which is there in our Q uarter 4 finance costs. We believe that next year, with more interest rate cuts expected, our interest costs should go down.

Angad Saluja

Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. T he first one on realizations for the Carbon Black business for the quarter, I think we have seen a decline now for two consecutive quarters in realizations and obviously now with crude also being slightly volatile in the last one odd month. How do you see the realization shaping up for the next quarter and the year ahead, like what is your outlook on realization specifically?

Raj Gupta

So, this quarter, realization should be mostly flat, small uptick, small improvement because there is quarter lag between the movement in crude prices and change in our realization. So, in the first quarter, we would see marginal improvement in realization, but then realization should not be seen as a reflection of change in margins. It is more reflective of the movement in raw material prices, which is linked to crude. But margins would depend on product portfolio and also broader demand supply situation in the industry.

Angad Saluja

Got it. And s ir, just going back to that you have said product mix will drive more margins , I think in the quarter we have seen that despite Specialty Black sort of doing better, I think almost 9% Y-o-Y growth overall and the full year as well , our margins for Q4 have di pped Q-o-Q as well as Y-o-Y, so any specific reason, any one-off or anything that we should know about?

Raj Gupta

Specialty still is about 10% of our total volume, right. So, while year-on-year Specialty volumes are going up in terms of percentage, its weight on the overall sales volume is still very small. Coming to the reason behind drop in prices, Russia, which earlier used to sell in Europe mostly, now because of ban, is pushing more material in Asia and India a nd they are selling at unrealistically low prices. And consequently, with our focus on capacity utilization, we also have to play a bit on pricing, which is reflected in the drop in margins in the current quarter. But with all the work that we are doing on portfolio building , on efficiency improvement and also with higher volumes operating leverage would be favorable for us. We believe that from 4–5 year perspective, we would be largely on track with our guidance of Rs. 25,000 EBITDA/MT.

Angad Saluja

Got it. Thank you. That is it.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities Limited. Please go ahead.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Good afternoon and thanks for taking my question. First, touching upon the Aquapharm, in this quarter, EBITDA because if I take Rs. 194 crores for the full year, it appears that we have done only Rs. 38 crores for this quarter while the earlier run rate was Rs. 50 crores on a much higher volume, much higher revenue, anything which has one -off or anything which has happened in the EBITDA margin for this quarter?

Raj Gupta

EBITDA for the quarter is Rs. 51 crores. I don't know where you are getting Rs. 38 crores.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Because you have disclosed Rs. 194 crores for the full year?

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

So, in the first 9 months, what we have disclosed is Rs. 156 crores, so Rs. 194 minus Rs. 196 is Rs. 38.

Raj Gupta

The EBITDA , Rs. 194 crore s that we are talking , is the reported EBITDA and in the 1st 3 quarters, we were mostly talking about operational EBITDA. This year also , there are some expenses which are being incurred on the consulting side like BCG and McKinsey and when we report numbers, those expenses also become part of our operating expenses and consequently our reported EBITDA comes down.

Raj Gupta

So, like to like basis, 4th Quarter is better than the 1st 3 quarters and 4th Quarter is still only a small reflection of the improvement which is now happening in the business. A good reflection of it will be from the current year, 1st quarter itself of the current year.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Got it. That is on it, but how do we see this Rs. 194 crores going? Because that consulting fee and all will be done in FY '25, so from a reported basis, where should we see EBITDA for FY '26?

Raj Gupta

So, the business with its capacity has potential, i t did perform Rs. 400 crores plus EBITDA 2 years back and w e strongly believe that now with more capacity addition and more & more product launches and a better portfolio, we can further improve from there. It will take a couple of years’ time to maybe cross that Rs. 400 crores. But this year itself, we believe we can do 40- 50% better performance.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Fair enough. Now coming back to the Carbon Black, again, there is a drop in EBITDA sequentially. Any particular reason you are seeing pressure on the premiums which we were earning or the product mix because the Specialty mix has remained fairly stable. So, what is driving this drop in EBITDA per kg in the Carbon Black business?

Raj Gupta

Fourth quarter was kind of an uncertain quarter from global economic point of view . Post this Presidency election in USA, there was an indication that there would be some tariffs which will be levied on trade partners of USA and consequently, lot of our customers wanted to reduce inventory, not knowing as to how it is going to impact them. And therefore, the market demand was sluggish generally. Also, Russia, last 2 quarters has started dumping in India and in some of the Asian countries and they are selling it at almost $200 lower prices. Now, we want to keep our capacity utilization high and therefore we still booked some volumes which were not at our usual margins.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

And the Russia dumping continues because I don't see why it will not because they need to somehow place their around 0.7 million of capacity somewhere in the market and the market opens up in India and China, which are larger market which can absorb this. This situation is unlikely to change, right?

Raj Gupta

Yes. Possibly, it will continue with this. We will have to find new markets and customers, which is precisely what we are focusing on.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

So, when we say Rs. 25/Kg EBITDA in next 3-4 years in such a scenario , can you help us understand the bridge, how we really want to transform this from Rs. 17-18/ KG EBITDA to a Rs. 25/ Kg EBITDA?

Raj Gupta

Sanjesh, the operating leverage itself is going to play a big role . For every 10,000 tons incremental sales volume at the current gross margin that we make, it will be adding about Rs. 400 per ton to the whole portfolio at EBITDA level.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

But we are already using 95% utilization, right? How are we going to add that volume?

Raj Gupta

Yes, but we are adding capacity of 90,000 MT. The capacity is going to come in a year's time, 30,000 MT of which is almost ready. And then in a year's time, we will have more Brownfield and then eventually a Greenfield in Andhra Pradesh.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

And Greenfield you are not going to add that much?

Raj Gupta

No. Greenfield will also add because the head office expenses are not duplicated, right , so they remain more or less stable. Maybe the operating leverage will be a little less there, but we will still have operating leverage. And this Rs. 400/MT is at 10,000 MT additional volume. We still have cushions even with the Brownfield expansion, which is in pipeline, to add Rs. 4,000 from operating leverage, but I am not saying that our operating cost structure would remain the same. So maybe half of that is about Rs. 2,000-2,500 is going to come against this 90,000MT capacity itself and then the product portfolio is also changing . For every incremental 1000 tons of Specialty sales, our blended EBITDA improves by about Rs. 60-70 and every year, we can add between 7,000- 10,000 MT additional Specialty volume. Also in Specialty, we are moving up the value chain. Our MD, Mr. Roy, has just mentioned about 1000-ton superconductive capacity. Now, here the margin profile is likely to be $10,000+ as against our current $400 average gross margin. So, the margin profile in the new product lines will be very different from the conventional products that we have in the portfolio. And add to that the work that we have been doing on the yield side, which still has sufficient cushion. We are not the best manufacturer even now. So, when we are talking about Rs 25,000/MT, we are not saying that at that level, we will get saturated. That is just our next 5-year target, maybe we will do better.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Got it. But any example, is any operator in the Carbon Black doing Rs. 25/Kg EBITDA?

Raj Gupta

Rs. 25/Kg EBITDA, it will be difficult because different countries have different cost structures, but at a gross margin level, there are certainly companies which have at least Rs. 7,000-8,000 better margins than us.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Fair enough. Just last question from my side . This Acetylene Black, what we are trying to do, the Specialty, the raw material will come from China and the capacity which we are putting, the technology is also coming from China. Is that fair understanding and how much more profitable is this product from the EBITDA per kg perspective?

Raj Gupta

Your understanding is correct, with respect to the technology and the raw material and what we are seeing in India, India currently imports about 2000 tons of Acetylene Black and it is sold at around $4,000-5,000 a ton and with $800-1,200 kind of margin per ton.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Which is almost 3x what we do?

Raj Gupta

Yes.

Sanjesh JainICICI Securities Limited

Fair enough. That is it from my side. Thanks for taking all those questions and best of luck for the coming quarters.

Raj Gupta

Thanks, Sanjesh.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Krishan Parwani from JM Financial. Please go ahead.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Yes. Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. Three from my side. First on the Carbon Black side, what is the volume growth headroom in FY '26 considering the time taken to bring the capacity downstream?

Raj Gupta

We should be doing about 65 0,000 tons, which is about 9% -10% increase over our FY '25 volumes.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

So, you do have growth headroom from that 90,000MT expansion that you are doing at Tamil Nadu, so from there you are expecting an incremental probably is 50,000 -60,000 MT, is that correct?

Raj Gupta

We have about 35,000 MT of capacity cushion already and then one 30,000 MT line is ready for commissioning in Tamil Nadu which is part of 90,000 MT . So, that itself would give us this additional 50,000-60,000 MT. And then once the larger line of 60,000 MT is commissioned, which will be towards maybe the 3rd or 4th Quarter of this year, then, we will have more capacity available. But we are not counting that in our current numbers of 50,000-60,000 MT volume.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

And you are fairly confident with the domestic demand not very strong, I think, Kaushik sir’s earlier commentary, so with the strong export volumes, we are confident of achieving 650 -660 KTPA, correct?

Raj Gupta

Yes, we are.

Raj Gupta

See, the market remains extremely volatile and therefore it may not be a very linear kind of improvement in our margins. So, like in the past, you have seen that in some years, our margin jumped by Rs. 2,000-2,500 also and similarly in some years it tends to remain flat. So, while on a long-term basis, maybe 3-4 years’ basis, we are fairly confident that with our initiatives, with change in portfolio and with operating leverage playing its role, we will be moving towards the targeted number. But immediately in 1-2 years, there are a lot of things which are changing very rapidly. Like this, this USA tariff thing, how it is going to impact the entire ecosystem of auto industry across globe, that is yet to be assessed. So, I would say that this is a little early for us to comment on how margins are going to be this year , but we believe that we should be able to maintain our margins.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Maintain probably Rs. 18000-20000/ MT. Is that correct or?

Raj Gupta

Our current year's average EBITDA margin is around Rs. 20,000/MT.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Yes. Rs. 18,000- 20,000/MT that is the range, yes. And lastly, on Aquapharm, just one or two clarifications, so our 4Q FY '25 EBITDA is Rs. 51 crores, while our EBIT is Rs. 19 crores. So, I think depreciation is closer to Rs. 32 crores. So just wanted to understand why is that depreciation so high for largely depreciated assets that you were required?

Raj Gupta

We acquired this Company at around Rs. 4,000 crore and as per accounting regulations in India, the difference between the value of physical assets and the acquisition value becomes intangible assets, which are available for amortization and which also carries tax benefits. A good portion of this depreciation and amortization is on account of amortization of intangible assets . The quarterly run rate is Rs. 23 crores.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

And then what explains the difference between the Rs. 32, is it other income Rs. 9 crores or was it what?

Raj Gupta

The balance is the physical asset depreciation.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Fair enough. You a re saying that the physical asset depreciation is Rs. 9 crores quarterly and then the intangible is okay, fair enough.

Raj Gupta

And this intangible amortization is also entitling us for a tax shield. It is going to be huge, almost around Rs. 500 crores and which kind of makes profit of India business exempt from tax for next 7-8 years. That is the kind of shield that we are going to get out of it.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Fair enough. Got it. And I think, just one last bit. On the Aquapharm EBITDA side, I think you were till about last guiding that by the end of FY '25 exit run rate, EBITDA should be about Rs. 70-80 crores so how far are we from that exit run rate of Rs. 70-80 crores quarterly in Aquapharm?

Raj Gupta

Rs. 70-80 crores guidance was for FY '26 4th Quarter is what we said we will be reaching and we are fairly confident that we would reach and God willing, cross that number.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Fair enough, sir. Thank you for patiently answering my question.

Pankaj Kedia

Krishan, if I can add on the Aquapharm side, see the green shoots are visible from last quarter onwards, both on our top 2 categories of business which is the oil and gas chemicals and the detergent sides. On both these businesses, we see a very good growth opportunity this year. And the fact that we have a local manufacturing facility in the USA in Texas, with this whole trade tariff thing happening today, there are a lot of uncertainties, but we see a very clear advantageous situation emerging in the next few weeks and months. Hopefully, when we come back to you by the end of the first quarter of this year, we should be able to come and tell you about the significant growth prospects on the Aquapharm side. So overall, we are still talking about almost 50% of EBITDA growth coming in Aquapharm this financial year. So, that kind of number we think we should be able to deliver.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

In terms of the capacity expansion in Aquapharm, the 38,000 MTPA, I think it was supposed to come on stream in March ‘ 25. So, is there a delay of 1 -2 months or when will that come on stream?

Pankaj Kedia

Some capacities have been commissioned before Mar ch and the rest is in process of getting commissioned.

Kaushik Roy

It is already ready at this point of time and it has just commissioned 2-3 days back. So, it has already happened. There is slight delay, not exactly delay from the point of view of completing the activity. It took some time to get clearance from local government. What you call is Consent to Operate. That took a little longer than expected and that is why this delay is, but it has already happened now.

Krishan ParwaniJM Financial

Understood. Thank you so much for patiently answering my question. Wish you all the best, sir.

Kaushik Roy

Thank you so much.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sailesh Raja from B &K Securities. Please go ahead.

Sailesh RajaB&K Securities

Thanks for the opportunity, sir. We are planning to set up the Nanovace facility in Palej and also capacity for Acetylene Black in Mundra. So why are we not considering Naidupeta for these two projects? Are these two projects not eligible for 17% concessional tax rate?

Raj Gupta

No, Sailesh, actually our R&D team operates out of Palej plant and these products…these lines would require lot of technical support and R&D support and therefore we are planning to set it there. So, Andhra will take time. Andhra, for getting the MoEF approval, etc., will take at least a year's time. We can't afford to delay our projects, right.

Sailesh RajaB&K Securities

Sir, my second question on the input-output ratio trend, this has been enough, key driver behind the improvement in our gross debts over the last 5 years, so currently our approximate input - output ratio stands at 1.8:1 in standard and performance Carbon Black. So based on my estimate it is 10 bps improvement in ratio translating to saving of Rs. 150 crores if my understanding is right and what is our target input ratio over the next 2-3 years?

Raj Gupta

So, you may not be able to calculate it based on the raw material consumed and the overall production level, because the portfolio itself is changing and not all grades have the same input- output ratio. But internally, we have the benchmarks for each of the grades that we produce. And for 1% improvement in yield, it is almost like Rs. 100 -150 odd crores. It will also have a relevance to crude prices. At current crude prices, about 1% yield improvement is roughly Rs. 1,300-1,400/MT EBITDA for us.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Siddhant from Tusk. Please go ahead.

Siddhant

Sir, I just wanted to have clarity on the Nanovace technology. So, what is the progress so far and what update are we looking to commercialize the plant in FY '27?

Kaushik Roy

Yes, so Nanovace, currently we are working on the pilot plant. All orders have been placed and ground activity will start very soon once the supply starts and we are expecting by end of this calendar year which is October to December during that quarter , w e should be able to commission that plant and in parallel , we have already started discussion with the prospective customers, both in battery side as well as anode side and in addition to that also with some of the leading automobile manufacturers. So, both activities are going on in parallel and once we get approval from them based on the pilot plant samples, we will immediately start the commercial plant thereafter.

Siddhant

But in terms of technology, we have already established credibility, right?

Kaushik Roy

Yes, absolutely.

Siddhant

And regarding FY '27, we are looking to commercialize the plant, right?

Kaushik Roy

No, we are looking at FY '28 mid to commercialize the plant. The pilot plant will be ready by the end of this calendar year. After that we will need to give some time for approvals and to put up the new capacity, the commercial capacity, which will take roughly about little more than a year.

Kaushik Roy

No, not really. We are mixing nano-silicon with graphite at certain percentage. We are not replacing.

Siddhant

Both are combined together to increase the life cycle of the battery?

Kaushik Roy

It is a hybrid thing. It will increase the life cycle of the battery, the charging between two charging intervals. It will be much higher. The life of battery will be much longer and at the same time, the emission level will come down substantially. So, a combination of all three and additionally, the overall cost will go down over a period of time. Per running kilometer, the cost will go down.

Siddhant

And in terms of this technology, is there any competitor who is also looking to explore this or are we the only ones having this technology right now?

Kaushik Roy

You can say in a way that nano-silicon, the kind of technology we are exploring, we are one of its kinds in this area. There are other players, but it is so far not commercially viable or cost effective.

Siddhant

So, the first-mover advantage will remain with us?

Kaushik Roy

Absolutely. That is what the expectation is.

Siddhant

And like the revenue will be $100/kg. We are still sticking to that number?

Raj Gupta

No, that was an assumption that we took, which is a conservative assumption. Obviously, if it is selling at a higher price in the market, there would be only some discount to it that we will offer, but it may be higher than $100 also for all we know . This is a little early for that. That was for our internal conservative calculation of profitability.

Siddhant

Right. Thank you so much, sir. That will be it for me.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pro lin Nandu from E delweiss Public and Alternatives. Please go ahead.

Prolin Nandu

Hi, team. Thank you for taking my question. I just want to understand our philosophy on this capex, right. See given that in domestic market , we don't know by when this Russia dumping will end. Now on the export market also , there is uncertainty on tariffs, right. But at the same time, you mentioned that you can't wait for approval to come in Tamil Nadu where we have probably a favorable tax regime there, right in some sense and hence we are expanding our facility. So just wanted to understand that, given that the demand outlook is not very encouraging at least for the near term, why is there an urgency to put capex?

Raj Gupta

Well, we are already operating at above 90% capacity. That is number one. Number two, the lines that Sailesh was talking about were more on the Specialty grades of Carbon Black side for which we would require to provide a lot of technical and R&D support, which currently is not available in our Tamil Nadu plant and consequently, we will have to keep these capacities stationed near to the R&D center, which is Palej on Mundra. So that is the reason. And third, the demand outlook. Even when, we say the demand outlook in India is not good , globally, still demand will grow by a certain percentage. Last 10-year CAGR has been around 3.5% industry growth rate, which adds about 500,000 MT of incremental demand every year . And that is on the regular Carbon Black side, not specialty. Specialty is a different market dynamic altogether. So, there is sufficient cushion in the market. And all said and done, we are just about 4% of the overall market size currently . Who stops us from taking this 4% to maybe 8% or 12% going forward, over a period of time.

Prolin Nandu

Sure. Understood. So, this Andhra capex that you have announced, right, is this going to be only for Specialty or it is going to be the mix, right because you mentioned that talent is available nearby for the Specialty line. So, what could be the level break up that we are looking at between Carbon Black and Specialty here?

Raj Gupta

I guess you misunderstood. I said our R&D and technical team are in Gujarat , not in Andhra. But having said that, in Andhra in the first phase, we will be putting up regular black lines and then maybe based on requirement, availability of feed stock and maybe availability of talent, we might also decide to add S pecialty capacity there. But as of now , we are planning t o put up 150,000 tons of Carbon Black capacity, which will be rubber grade capacity mostly, in the first phase of capacity in Andhra.

Prolin Nandu

Sure, and just to, last question from my side, just to double click last question from my side to double click on this capacity utilization, right at the question that you mentioned, could you help us understand what is the capacity utilization for Specialty Carbon Black?

Raj Gupta

Specialty, we are almost at 100 %. Last year, which is FY '25, we added a 20,000 MT line and where we have about 7,000-8,000 MT of capacity available, which we hope to utilize this year. So immediately we will have to add one more line of Specialty.

Prolin Nandu

And when will that come, the new line or Specialty?

Raj Gupta

Next 12-15 months’ time.

Prolin Nandu

So, till that time , we have that constraint on the S pecialty mix, right? Is that understanding, correct?

Raj Gupta

Not constrained because this year , we already have capacity cushion. So, the capacity which came up in FY '25 is largely available for this year's growth and by the end of this year, we will have that line almost ready, the new line.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rom il Jain from Electrum PMS. Please go ahead. Excuse me, Mr. Romil, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your questions. As there is no response from the line of the current participant, our next question is from the line of Sarah from UVR Fund advisory. Please go ahead.

Sarah

Hi. Thank you for this opportunity. Sir, my questions are related to Aquapharm. In Aquapharm, what is the current logistics cost and what are the plans to optimize these cost?

Kaushik Roy

You are saying that in terms of percentage?

Sarah

No, sir, absolute and per ton basis, sir?

Raj Gupta

No, it could be very different. Aquapharm has manufacturing facilities in 3 geographies, USA, India and Saudi Arabia and from there , it caters to different markets , so there will not be any uniform logistics cost. Typically, if you were to look at the co ntainerized freight rates, from India to Middle East or Southeast Asia, it will be about $20-25/ton. For Western Europe, it would be about close to $100/ ton and from India to USA, it will be around $150 /ton. These are the rates.

Sarah

Alright, sir. In Aquapharm, 85% of sales come from the USA and Europe. What is the outlook on demand and pricing in these key regions and what is the target addressable market in USA and Europe and how much of the current market is catered by China?

Kaushik Roy

Well, the USA market is the strongest for Aquapharm from the point of view of demand as well as from the point of view of margin. So that is the best possible market what we have. Europe is a decent market, but obviously not as good as the USA . So therefore, as an organization our thrust and focus right now is to increase our sale in USA as much as we can. So that is going forward will be our strategy as we go along while maintaining the presence in Europe because there are players like for example P &G, we are the largest supplier to P &G and mostly it is supplied in Europe, so it remains but at the same time lot of focus will be there in USA market. This I am talking about products which are sent or manufactured in Aquapharm India.

Sarah

Do we have the demand size for the same for the USA and Europe?

Kaushik Roy

In USA, the demand is strong because oil production is going at full swing in the USA and with Mr. Trump coming in, possibly that will increase further, the demand will increase further. So, the USA side is pretty strong. Europe is little soft, or I will say it is a bit muted and as I said , therefore, more focus is there for USA right now for us from Aquapharm side.

Sarah

That I understood, sir. I wanted some numbers like if you could give on demand side.

Sarah

Alright, sir.

Kaushik Roy

But of course, the USA is the largest economy, so on that almost 2% growth is not that bad, but it has definitely come down from the earlier numbers.

Sarah

Alright, sir. At what prices are China dumping and how competitive is Aqua pharm pricing as compared to these prices that China is dumping?

Kaushik Roy

So right now, China is not able to dump in the USA because of the current tariff which is 145%. They are not in a position to dump, but yes, earlier China used to dump a lot of material and because of that at places we used to kind of compete with China and therefore it used to be a problem for us, but right now , a bit of an advantage for us , I will say, particularly from USA perspective with 145% duty.

Sarah

One last question. In the total debt that we have, how much is Indian debt and how much exposure do we have for foreign debt?

Raj Gupta

It is entirely rupee denominated debt.

Sarah

Alright, sir. That is it from my side. Thank you.

Kaushik Roy

Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the last question for the day. On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.