Indian primary mills hike rebar prices by up to INR 2,000/t ($23/t) for early-Aug’25

• IF-rebar prices drop m-o-m in Jul’25
• Property sales edge up m-o-m 

Indian primary mills have increased rebar prices by up to INR 2,000/tonne (t) ($23/t) for early-August 2025 deliveries as against prices prevailing in end-July, sources informed BigMint. Post-revision, list prices stood at INR 48,500-50,000 /t ($552-569/t) on landed basis. It should be noted that mills had offered discounts/rebates to augment sales last month.

In the projects segment, prices opened at INR 48,500-49,500/t ($552-564/t) FOR Mumbai basis.

Rebar inventories at Tier-1 mills increased over 45% m-o-m in early-August as against inventories in early-July, sources informed. Meanwhile, inventories have dropped slightly by 5% from end-July levels as mills liquidated material in the projects segment.

Update on projects

• L&T’s Renewables division secured a major order for a 116 MW solar PV plant with 241 MWh BESS in Bihar’s Lakhisarai, creating India’s largest co-located solar-plus-storage site.
• Dilip Buildcon Ltd, through DBL-RBL JV, emerged as L-1 bidder for INR 1503.63 crore Gurugram Metro project involving viaduct and station construction, to be completed in 30 months.

Factors propelling market 

1. IF-rebar trade prices drop m-o-m: Induction Furnace (IF) rebar prices witnessed mixed sentiments through July across key Indian markets. Prices initially remained stable amid subdued trade, elevated inventories (12–15 days), and weak buyer response. However, as the month progressed and prices bottomed out, improved bookings were observed, especially in central India, with semi-finished steel (billets and sponge iron) prices supporting a gradual price uptick. Mills maintained list prices with limited discounts, while production cuts due to maintenance also influenced supply. IF rebar prices dropped by INR 1,200/t ($14/t) m-o-m to a monthly average of INR 43,600/t ($496/t) exw-Mumbai in July 2025.

The BF-IF rebar monthly average price gap narrowed to around INR 5,000-5,500/t ($57-63/t) in Mumbai in the month of July. IF rebars hold a dominant 65-70% market share in India.

2. Property registrations rise m-o-m: Property registrations in Mumbai, the country’s largest real estate market, remained rose m-o-m by 7% to 12,366 units in July 2025 as against 11,521 units in June 2025, as per data released by Knight Frank India. On y-o-y basis, registrations were largely flat.

During the first seven months of CY’25, property registrations witnessed a rise of 3% y-o-y to 86,866 units as against 84,388 units seen in the same period last year.

3. Raw material prices show mixed trends w-o-w: BigMint’s Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index remained stable w-o-w at INR 5,350/t ($61/t) on 2 August 2025. Iron ore prices in Odisha remained firm this week, even as trading activity slowed down due to a shortage of material availability in the region. Persistent monsoon rainfall has significantly hampered both production and dispatch operations of miners, leading to tight supply conditions in the spot market.

Australian premium hard coking coal (PHCC) prices were unchanged w-o-w at $189/t CNF Paradip.

Outlook
Trade-level BF-rebar prices may remain firm in near term amid price increase by mills. Market Participants anticipate demand in trade segment to pick up as prices bottomed out last month.