Semi Finish price rally may see a break as finish buyer remain cautious in the high offer price. Trade volume remain hand to mouth in the Sponge and Ingot buying.

Ingot/Billet:  Offers of Ingot/Billet increased by INR 300-600/MT across the country except South market. Trading volume of Ingot/Billet & Re-bar was decent in increased prices.

Durgapur is witnessing power cut of nearly 18 hours a day from last 3 days and continues further. This has been the prime reason behind price hike of the materials (Ingot/Billet & Re-bar) by INR 1,200/MT W-o-W.

[su_quote cite=”commented a Billet manufacturer based in Raipur (Central India)”]The market witnessed decent trade on Monday with good volume of the material sold. We have booked material for this week and we don’t have any selling pressure for the next 3-4 days. Demand for the material is on a continuous rise. We are not excepting any major correction in prices as steel market is normally positive in the months of January & February; and the trend is likely to continue this year too[/su_quote]

Re-bar: From past few months, trading volume (Buying) is good, but profit margin is likely to remain low. ‘’Sales is good and escalating day by day, however decline in conversion cost (Ingot to Re-bar) have affected the production. We want to increase the production of Re-bar, but low profit margin has made us to maintain the production”, shared a Director of a Re-bar unit in Raniganj (West Bengal).

Sponge Iron: In Central region, soaring production of Sponge Pellet is keeping check on Sponge iron prices. After, a long time prices of the sponge have improved by INR 200-400/MT. Improvement in prices by INR 400/MT has increased the trade volumes, with material being sold at INR 20,700-20,800/MT (FeM 78). Prices of Sponge Pellet increased by INR 200/MT to reach at INR 19,400/MT.

Following the suit, prices in Durgapur are also increased and price of Sponge went up by INR 200/MT owing to good buying from Ingot/Billet manufacturers. Prices in Rourkela also went up by INR 300/MT after a long duration. Offers for commodity are at INR 18,700-18,800/MT (78 FeM). In these prices, buyers are cautious to purchase material as major markets have reduced prices by INR 200-400/MT in Ingot/Billet and Sponge after offers slashed by INR 400-500/MT in Mandi Gobindgarh.

[su_quote cite=”commented a Re-bar manufacturer based in Mandi (Punjab)”]Looking at the current situation, we are purchasing Ingot/Billet from Mandi Gobindgarh as prices are high in other markets like Raipur, Durgapur & Rourkela as compared to Mandi. Buying of finished steel has witnessed a slowdown Owing to reduction of VAT from 5% to 2.5%, and also buyers are not purchasing material in good volume. Therefore, we are purchasing raw material (Ingot/Billet) in low quantity. Any improvement in prices can be seen either in last week of this month or from next month[/su_quote]