Prices in the local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) market have continued their upward trend, rising by INR 500/mt in the past week to INR 47,000/mt ($740/mt) ex-works, as local steel mills commenced upward price revisions and amid strong buying support across market segments, traders said on Tuesday, January 9.
“Large mills have hiked base prices for current month deliveries and other mills are expected to follow suit over the next few days,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The higher base price is supported by strong bookings by end-users and dealers, with most market participants expecting the higher price levels to be sustained,” the trader added.
Sources said that there are reports in the market that Indian steel mills will go in for a second round of price hikes across the range of flat steel products later this month, and this has triggered bookings of increased volumes by dealers. The sources said that several large mills have reported that they will likely pass on rising costs of iron ore to consumers and so the market expect the mills to hike CRC base prices by INR 1,000/mt for a second time later in January.
$1 = INR 63.5