Flat Steel prices have steeply appreciated by 4-5% in Hyderabad owing to shortage in inventory. HR (2.5 mm) Coils in Hyderabad is trading at INR 48,000/MT (Including ED, VAT Extra). Flat Steel prices in other parts of India have remained unchanged. However, shortage of Inventory was also reported from Ludhiana. Availability of Cold rolled products from secondary players have come down significantly; this has led to a fall in inventory in some areas.
[su_quote cite=”Trader in Hyderabad”]Prices for HRC & CRC are trading much higher owing to shortage in inventory. [/su_quote]
Domestic Flat Steel trading has remained mild in the past two weeks. There is a good demand from local fabrication units in Delhi; however volume of trading is quite low as compared to peak demand in the market. Traders across India are expecting price hike.
[su_quote cite=”Trader in Delhi”]We expect price hike of INR 500-650/MT. But, we haven’t received any intimation from the companies till now. [/su_quote]
[su_quote cite=”Trader in Chennai”]Demand has been quite lower except for project based requirements.We are expecting price hike by INR 750-1,000/MT.[/su_quote]
Can we expect Price Hike?
Excise duty cut on auto products has bought in some optimism for the industry. Some industry participants expect price hike due to rising demand from auto sector. As per our conversation with a senior official of JSW, the company is still in a wait & watch mode for any decision on price hike. He said,
[su_quote]Looking at the current scenario in the market, we are holding the plans for increasing our prices as for now. The decision on price hike will be strictly on the basis of where the market’s demand levers points to. We are still considering the option of slight price hike.[/su_quote]
JSW Steel being the largest producer of Flat Steel products leads the price hike announcement and other manufacturers follow suit. JSW domestically supplies its Flat Steel products to automobile companies and to the fabrication industries in Karnataka. Past few months has seen a good volume of exports from JSW to countries in Middle East & Europe.
International prices for HRC have seen some changes last week. Offers in North Europe has corrected by 0.2%, whereas offers in Europe’s Antwerp has appreciated by 0.6%. CNF prices in Europe traded at USD 595/MT.
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