Prices in the local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) market have remained stable during the past week at INR 45,000/mt ($661/mt) ex-works, as the market has taken a pause after three weeks of continuous increases and as buyers have been waiting for pricing signals from Indian steel mills, traders said on Monday, January 16.
“Prices have consolidated at the higher levels, while buyers are also taking a break, focusing on control of existing inventories,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The pause in market activity is also the result of possible reconsideration among local steel mills of current month prices. After a lot of market speculation anticipating one of the highest revisions in base prices in a long time, many large mills are delaying making formal announcements,” the trader said.
“One of the reasons for this is that Indian steel mills are having second thoughts on the market’s ability to absorb very high price revisions, which were earlier expected to be around INR 6,000/mt ($88/mt),” the trader added.
Market sources said that, while a few local steel mills in the first week of the month hiked HRC prices by around INR 3,000/mt ($44/mt), many of the larger flat product producers are still considering the size of their revision before making a formal announcement.
$1 = INR 68.11