Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited at Cuttack, Odisha, the country's largest producer and seller of Pig Iron cut Steel Grade offers by Rs 400/MT to Rs 25,000/MT (Basic price) for July '12.
Other plants across the country also reduced Pig Iron prices in line with NINL.
A senior official at NINL shared the factors resulting in price fall.
1. Monsoon – the major factor
In the event of monsoon, activity in construction industry has decreased. Hence, the use of steel has come down
2. Low demand from end users
Buying volumes of finished steel products in few quantities is impacting sales
3. Devaluation of Rupee
India is paying high for imports now as Rupee has touched 55.37 levels. Raw material prices, particularly imported coal is up
4. Increase in Input cost
One cannot sell beyond points due to high cost of manufacturing
At current offers, buying is not encouraging and demand for the material remains weak
He also spoke about slowing down of Pig Iron exports.
“Exports has reduced from sometime now. Offers were standing at US $475 before a month or more. Exports might happen in the range of US $415-420/MT but there are no plans to conclude any export deals presently”, said the official.
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