Large Indian steel mills hiked flat products base price for the second time in the second half of December, riding on recent levy of safeguard duty on imports from certain countries and bullish trend in domestic local market, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Wednesday, December 31.
Information collected from several large integrated mills indicated that listed flat products prices have been increased in the range of INR 1,000-1,500/mt ($11-17/mt) effective for both hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC). This came after the earlier INR 750-1,000/mt ($8-11/mt) increase.
Following the latest round of base price hikes, listed price for HRC of mills currently averages around INR 48,100/mt ($535/mt) and that of CRC at around INR 55,700/mt ($619/mt).
Sources in at least two large mills said that producers were considering further base price increases in January to offset rise in imported raw materials from impact of weakening currency.
They said that recent sharp rally in finished steel trade prices even after previous round of base price increase a week ago indicated that the market could absorb increases in listed price. Furthermore, the recent imposition of safeguard duty offering import protection provides sufficient headroom for more hikes.
