Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) have inched lower amid the absence of trading activity during the holidays, but the outlook has remained positive with large industrial buyers expected to return to restock later in the week, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, November 13.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC prices are down INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 62,800/mt ($754/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 64,050/mt ($769/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Small industrial users have been out of the market and smaller re-rollers are closed for the festival holidays. But large industrial users like automobile and consumer durable manufacturers have continued to report robust festival sales and are expected to return to restock raw materials once full business activity resumes over the course of the next few days.
“We do not seek much downside risks from current levels. Mills are expected to raise base prices in the coming weeks, which will be the trigger for the next uptrend as industrial demand remains robust,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“There is no consensus in the market on the expected base price increase being considered by mills. Our assessment is that producers will go in for calibrated increases in two rounds over the course of the next two to four weeks,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.30