The surge in local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices has continued unabated supported by aggressive bookings by end-use industry and low inventories, and the extended delivery timelines of re-rollers.
Sources said that the benchmark 0.9 mm CRC price has gained INR 700/mt ($11/mt) to INR 63,900/mt ($768/mt) ex-Mumbai and is up INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 65,150/mt ($783/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
They said that most automobile and consumer durable manufacturers have been aggressively restocking to meet the festival demand spike, but have been facing a shortfall in delivery volumes from rerollers currently having low inventories.
“Trade-level bookings have moved to higher levels. We expect such trade bookings to increase further in the coming week as mills are largely expected to increase base prices by the range of INR 1,500-2,000/mt ($18-24/mt),” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
“Considering the strong market fundamentals and that the spike in festival sales by key industries will continue to peak right through November, we assess the next CRC target price at around INR 66,500/mt ($799/mt) minimum, leading to a virtuous cycle,” he added.
$1 = INR 83.20