Mumbai: The global market for refractories is shrinking, and the world's largest producer-RHI Magnesita-sees this playing out in all the major regions where it operates, except for India, said chief executive officer Stefan Borgas. "If you look five years into the future, North America is stagnating in terms of industry, Europe is shrinking, South America is shrinking. Southeast Asia is totally dominated by China, and China is shrinking really, really fast," Borgas told ET in an exclusive interaction. The only growing parts of the world are India and the Middle East," he said. Refractories are used in the production of steel, cement, glass, aluminium and copper. RHI, which supplies to every steel and copper plant in the world, 80% of cement plants, and half of aluminium plants globally, believes that growth in India could be between 6% and 13% on a compound annual basis over the next five years. The global major's three key regions-North America, Europe, and Middle East and India-are currently around ₹1 billion in revenue each. While both North America and Europe were larger than ₹1 billion in revenue five years back, India has grown from ₹300 million in the same period. "You could see the velocity-three times. And in our case, it grew three times because of acquisitions," Borgas said. In 2023, RHI Magnesita completed the buyout of the Indian refractory business of Dalmia Bharat Refractories. Other recent acquisitions in India include a plant from Manishri Refractories & Ceramics and Hitech Chemicals, with the combined value of these three acquisitions at around ₹2,500 crore. 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The steel industry consumes as much as 60% of refractories made by the company in India and will be a focus area for the company going forward given that India is expected to be among the largest and fastest growing markets for steel. Borgas expects the steel industry in India to grow by 150 million tonnes in the next seven to eight years, while China is expected to shrink by 300 million tonnes in the same period. "If you look from a global perspective, the industry is shrinking because of that big effect of China," Borgas said. The company will, though, focus on growing its network in India, while ensuring that it is present in the industries it is not supplying to currently, such as refineries. "We supply nothing because we don't have products for this today. That would be acquisitions we could do in India," he said. Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is November 30, 2024. 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