Local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) prices have remained stable during the past week at INR 38,500/mt ($601/mt) ex-works, since market participants have preferred to stay on the sidelines, waiting for new pricing from steel mills for current month deliveries, traders said on Monday, September 4.
Sources said that there is no rush to re-stock ahead of the anticipated hike in base price by local steel mills as most dealers are carrying high inventories and dealers are uncertain about the impact of higher prices.
According to market sources, the market expects steel mills to increase their HRC bases price by around INR 1,500/mt ($13/mt).
“Local steel mills are getting aggressive in increasing their base price largely depending on strong export shipments, but I am not sure how the domestic market is going to absorb higher prices” a Mumbai based trader said.
““Considering India’s economic growth slipping to a three year low of 5.7 percent in April-June, declining for the fourth consecutive quarter and manufacturing growth by just 1.2 percent during the given period, higher HRC prices are possibly lead to stagnant market conditions as no demand uptick is expected to support export driven higher domestic price” the trader added.
$1 = INR 64.05