Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have edged up by INR 300/mt ($4.4/mt) during the past week to around INR 38,800/mt ($580/mt) ex-works, on the back of reports of possible announcements of base price hikes by local steel mills and amid the import protection measures announced last week, traders said on Tuesday, August 9.
“There is a lot of talk in the market of local steel mills hiking their flat product prices later this week. This, coupled with the antidumping duty and safeguard duty imposed last week, has given a modest momentum to prices” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“However, the gains in the case of CRC have been limited compared to other flat product prices since CRC prices had previously remained relatively stable compared to hot rolled coil prices,” the trader added.
Market sources said that, in view of the expected base price hikes, traders in most markets in India have pulled back from giving discounts.
At least two traders said that, though it is difficult to predict the margins of price hikes by steel mills, the market expects hikes to be in a lower range of around INR 500/mt for CRC as most mills are still carrying very large inventories and this would prevent them from making sharp increases.