Finish prices move up; labor shortage & expensive home loans likely to hit the demand

Wednesday, May 04,

Re-bar prices at few mandis’ moved up marginally by Rs 100-200/MT on rising prices of Ingot. Structure prices in Raipur & Hyderabad also moved up by Rs 300/MT.*

However, demand for finished goods especially structural items continues to be feeble. Further, acute shortage of labor & expensive home loans is likely to hit the demand from construction sector.

Comments by:

Traders: “We cannot derive any conclusion out of these price movements. The overall demand for finished product have to pick up strongly, if we want the see an up-tend in the market. Until then the pressure on prices will continue to haunt the markets”

Brokers: “Bigger Construction and engineering service companies like L&T say, there is an acute shortage of skilled manpower required for the construction sector in the country. And adding to the woes is home loans getting expensive after yesterday’s hike in policy rates by RBI. So, all these factors might make it difficult for a revamp in demand from construction sector in the near term”