#inputcosts

Exide Industries’ Q4 FY26 earnings-call transcript points to a mixed operating environment: strong domestic demand on one side and rising input-cost pressure on the other.

Management said the West Asia conflict remains an ongoing threat and that availability and pricing of commodities such as LPG, sulfuric acid and plastics are “quite alarming.”

It also cited rapidly increasing commodity rates and rupee depreciation as pressures on input costs.

At the same time, the company said Indian demand remained favourable.

Management said Q4 generated the company’s highest-ever quarterly revenue.

The story is important because it connects chemical-linked input stress with battery demand.

I’m going to pick on the University of Illinois for a bit.  This report compares input costs among different sizes of farms.  I’m assuming the goal is to discover what differences in financial efficiency exist at different economies of scale.  I don’t think it does a very good job.

In Northern and Southern Illinois, the largest farmers pay the highest cash rents.  In Central Illinois, the largest farmers pay the lowest cash rents.  Huh?

The largest farmers pay more per acre for fertilizer than their smaller counterparts.  I highly doubt this is due to higher costs per ton.  Rather, I’m betting that larger farmers who are paying higher rents are looking to push yields.

Hold on though!  It’s not all junk.  I’ve always wondered what kind of gap in input costs exists between different sizes of producers.

Seed - Up to $10/acre

Pesticides - Up to $7/acre

Equipment Depreciation - Up to $10/acre

So what’s it all mean?

Larger producers are paying about $30 more per acre in the example.  Want to guess how much they’re saving in input costs?  (Hint:  It’s about $30.)