SAIL expects steel prices to firm up in coming months on
rising demand. SAIL Chairman, Mr C.S.Verma said the company is seeing a pickup
in demand, which should accelerate post-monsoon.
“We expect prices to remain stable and firm up on growing
demand,” Mr Verma told reporters after the Company's 39th Annual General
Meeting. Steel prices have relatively stayed firm despite a subdued demand in
recent months.
Addressing shareholders, Mr Verma said coking coal prices,
which shot up in the aftermath of Australian floods early this year, have begun
to ease. Coking coal prices, which hit a high of $330 per tonne in January have
now come down to a level of $280 per tonne in the current quarter.
SAIL's profitability in 2010-11 was heavily impacted
severely due to the sharp rise in coking coal prices. The company had to bear a
cost increase of 66 per cent in last fiscal.
Mr Verma said the company's joint venture plans with Kobe
Steel of Japan were progressing well and the pre-feasibility study had been
completed. Similarly, the proposed joint venture with Posco is on the verge of
finalising the draft project report, he added.
Source: The Business Line
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