Hindustan Zinc posted a more than two fold jump in quarterly profit, with consolidated net profit of 64.12 billion rupees, about 675.5 million dollars, for the three months ended September 30, against 26.49 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue rose about 77 percent to 15,093 crore rupees and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled to a record 9,285 crore rupees.
Costs moved as much as prices. Zinc production costs fell 29 percent year on year to 703 dollars a tonne in the quarter, helped by higher output, better ore grades and stronger by product realisations, including higher sulphuric acid prices, a benefit the company noted is cyclical. Management cut the fiscal 2027 zinc production cost forecast to 825 to 850 dollars a tonne from a previous 975 to 1,000 dollars.
Production supported the result. Mined metal output reached 271,000 tonnes and refined metal production 264,000 tonnes in the quarter, while silver production rose 20 percent to 173 tonnes. Silver is now a decisive part of the earnings mix for a company that commands roughly three quarters of India’s primary zinc market.
Management expects a global refined zinc supply deficit of about 180,000 tonnes in 2026 amid mine closures and declining ore grades. That view sits against the International Lead and Zinc Study Group forecast, covered on October 20, of a swing to surplus in 2027, and the difference between the two is largely a question of how fast new capacity, including Vedanta’s Gamsberg expansion covered today, ramps up.