Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained stable, not reacting to base price increases announced by mills over the past week, largely owing to improved supplies from rerollers and end-use industries taking a pause from restocking.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC prices remained at INR 63,900/mt ($768/mt) ex-Mumbi and are unchanged at INR 65,150/mt($783/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. The improved supplies in the market have offset the impact of base price hikes by mills and eliminated the premium of trade prices over mills’ post-increase listed prices, and both trade and base prices are almost on a par and in some regions the main trade prices are at a discount to mills’ base prices.
However, trade channels have ruled out any possibility of a major correction setting into the market as the withdrawal of large end-users like automobile manufacturers is “temporary” and restocking will resume soon over the next week as festival season sales start to spike.
“There is sufficient buoyancy in the market to overcome the lull seen now. There is need-based buying by end-use industries currently. But prices will get back on the next uptrend even though the rise will be easier than seen last month,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“We hear that mills are also considering the next base price increase for October. Any rebound in trade level prices will be the next trigger for mills to pass on the higher cost of inputs like coking coal to users. The quantum of such an increase though is hard to forecast,” he said.
$1 = INR 83.20