News Room - Steel Industry
Posted on 02 Oct 2015
Producers raise flat steel prices Rs 500-1,000 a tonne
Steel producers raised prices, mainly those of flat steel, by Rs 500 to 1,000 a tonne on Thursday.
"There has been a sharp fall in prices by about Rs 9,000-10,000 per
tonne in the past year and we think this is not a rise but an
adjustment," an Essar Steel source said.
Steel producers had informed buyers that revisions could be expected in phases over three months.
The demand for flat products is stronger than for long steel ones, and
so the price revisions are mainly in the former, according to sources.
Long-steel products are used in construction and infrastructure; flat
steel is mainly used by the automobile sector.
"We will be reviewing prices between Saturday and Monday and so cannot
comment immediately," said Jayant Acharya, director, commercial, JSW
Steel. "We will look at flat products mainly, but the quantum of rise
may not be big," he added.
Traders said all producers would raise prices in October. Producers usually review prices every month.
State-owned Steel Authority of India also raised prices by about Rs 700 per tonne in its flat division.
The industry has been facing low prices for a while as cheap imports
from China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea flood the market. The
government last month imposed a 20 per cent provisional safeguard duty
on import of hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel
with a width of 600 mm or above for 200 days.
Of the total steel imports of 9.3 million tonnes in 2014-15, hot-rolled coils accounted for 25 per cent, India Ratings said.
After the safeguard duty, producers raised prices by Rs 2,500 per tonne
towards the end of September by dropping discounts. Producers seemed to
be getting back some pricing power, which could help them post better
earnings in the third quarter, said analysts.
