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Informist, Monday, Apr. 13, 2026

 

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--Astral official: Saw sales rise in March on West Asia conflict
--Astral official: Hope to beat Apr-Dec volume growth of 13-14% in Jan-Mar
--Astral official: Sales jumped as polyvinyl chloride prices rose in Jan-Mar
--Astral official: Cash on books rose to INR 8 bln as on Mar. 31
--Astral official: Cash on books as on Dec. 31 was INR 5 bln

 

By Sunil Raghu

 

AHMEDABAD – The military conflict in West Asia triggered by the surprise US-Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28 has helped Astral Ltd. record a "substantial" jump in sales volume and add nearly INR 3 billion in cash in the March quarter, taking the total cash and cash equivalent on the company's books to around INR 8 billion, a senior official said on condition of anonymity. As on Dec. 31, the cash and cash equivalent for the company stood at a little over INR 5 billion.

 

"The West Asian conflict has seen almost all of the units run at highest capacity till date and we have almost exhausted entire product inventory at our factories," the senior official said. The official said the company is confident of achieving volume growth that is much better than the 13-14% recorded in the first nine months of the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar).

 

Astral has installed pipe-making capacity of 410,135 tonnes per annum. It had recorded sales volume of 204,360 tonnes for nine months ended Dec. 31, 2025.

 

Talking of cash and cash equivalent, the senior official said this is the highest amount the company has "ever" had on its books, and this was made possible by the surge in sales since January but more so in March. The key reason for the rise in volumes, according to the official, was the sudden and sharp rise in price of polyvinyl chloride, a key raw material for pipes.

 

From Mar. 1, when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up crude oil prices, the price of PVC, a petroleum product, has seen an "exponential" jump. The price touched INR 114 per kg by the end of March, from a little over INR 70 per kg at the beginning of January. The jump is significant given that the price had declined by INR 11 per kg in the December quarter after Chinese manufacturers dumped the raw material in the Indian market. To curb this, the government had imposed an anti-dumping duty, helping to stabilise the price. The price began rising again from the end of December to reach INR 68-70 per kg by the end of February.

 

Retailers of Astral products generally desist from buying new inventory when the price of PVC falls, waiting for the price to fall further, thereby leading to an inventory loss. Normally, distributors and dealers both keep a trade channel inventory of four weeks, together covering eight weeks of demand. They buy products from the company when they see raw material prices move up, with the expectation of making more profits through inventory gain. Inventory levels that were at a low till mid-February due to depressed raw material prices jumped as PVC prices began rising.

 

The only worry, the official said, is that raw material prices should not go beyond the level of INR 135 per kg seen at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand appeared to be cooling towards the end of March and early April as the government removed the 8.25% import duty on PVC and companies took a break for the financial yearend.

 

"The good thing for us in FY27 is that most of the raw material we import from China or Taiwan, that was to come in March, has got delayed by a month and we will get it now at prices contracted before the West Asian military conflict," the official said. "With the government removing import duty, we have already gained 8.25% in costs."

 

On a consolidated basis, the pipes and adhesives maker's net profit for the December quarter was INR 1.08 billion on a revenue of INR 15.42 billion. Monday, its shares closed slightly lower at INR 1,625.10 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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