India’s ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited (AMNS) has been the first among Indian mills to increase flat product prices for September deliveries, company and trade sources said on Tuesday. The increase has been around INR 1,500/mt ($18/mt), in line with expectations. Expectations for this month's sales are better as last month the producer decided to hold prices stable and only JSW Steel posted some increases in base flat steel prices for August.
Sources said that the base price of hot rolled coil (HRC) of AMNS has increased by INR 1,250/mt ($15/mt), taking the effective price for the current month to INR 58,500/mt ($707/mt) ex-works. This means that the HRC spot trade prices, which are at INR 56,400-56,800/mt ($683-688/mt) ex-warehouse now, have room to go up further in the near future.
The cold rolled coil (CRC) price of AMNS has been hiked by INR 1,750/mt ($21/mt) to INR 63,000/mt ($761/mt) ex-works, also slightly above the trade prices of INR 61,200-61,250/mt ($741-742/mt) ex-warehouse.
Sources said that other Indian mills are also expected to announce similar base price increases over the course of the current week.