Belying market expectations, Indian steel mills have not lowered their flats prices and instead have started to announce unchanged prices for current month deliveries, information collated from producers indicated on Wednesday, January 5.
The decision to keep hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) prices stable has been led by ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited (AMNS), followed by other integrated mills like JSW Steel Limited.
Following this decision, the base price for HRC will remain unchanged in the range of INR 67,000- 68,500/mt ($902-921/mt) ex-works, the same as after mills had cut prices in early December.
Base prices for CRC have also remained unchanged for current month deliveries at INR 74,000-74,500/mt ($996-1,002/mt) ex-works.
Industry circles said that HRC traded prices at INR 63,100/mt ($849) ex-Mumbai and CRC at INR 67,100/mt ($903/mt) ex-Mumbai at the highest will continue to remain at a substantial discount to the base prices of mills.
Local steel mills, however, have maintained that their decision to keep base prices unchanged is based on the assessment that the market had bottomed out already and that the last quarter of the current fiscal will see an upturn in price levels driven by a demand revival.
