Large Indian mills have commenced increasing flat steel product base prices by around INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) effective for deliveries in April, SteelOrbis learned from companies and trade circles on Friday, March 31.
JSW Steel Limited took the lead in increasing its base price, taking its effective listed price for hot rolled coil (HRC) to INR 61,750/mt ($751/mt) ex-works and that of cold rolled coil (CRC) to INR 68,500/mt ($833/mt) ex-works.
Tata Steel Limited increased its base price, taking its HRC listed price to INR 62,000/mt ($754/mt) ex-works and its CRC price to INR 68,000/mt ($827/mt) ex-works.
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited’s HRC base price now stands at INR 62,500/mt ($760/mt) ex-works and its CRC base price at INR 70,000/mt ($852/mt) ex-works.
Sources said that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) were among the large integrated steel mills which by Friday had still not announced any revision of base prices, but were expected to do so early next week, with the size of the increase expected to be in line with the other mills’ increases.
The sources and analysts said that mills had gone in for local base price increases for the fourth consecutive month largely riding on strong export sales estimated at around 350,000 mt in February this year, with the highest volume of sales reported to Europe.
They said that the rising export volume had led to some tightening of supplies in the local market and hence had limited the impact of the slowdown in stock movement in the local market and its impact on trade prices.
$1 = INR 82.20
