Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have showed declines amid key industrial users led by automobile manufacturers reduced booking volumes and standalone re-rollers lowering prices reacting to rise in inventory levels.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC price fell INR 300/mt ($3/mt) at INR 64,300/mt ($672/mt) ex-Mumbai and down INR 500/mt ($5/mt) at INR 65,000/mt ($679/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Leading consumers like automobile companies will be hard pressed to sustain robust growth in sales seen over the past few months. Most passenger car companies are announcing hikes in prices coupled with recent spate of hikes in price of fuel over past one week will depress demand for cars. The government has issued advisory seeking austerity measures including reduction in fuel consumption and reducing use of cars which would only go towards depressing demand, the sources said.
On the supply side, few western India based large re-rollers were heard to be facing inventory pressures after buyers on long term contracts were either deferring or defaulting on lifting stocks forcing the sellers to drop prices and divert volumes for merchant sales.
A section of market intermediaries said that large mills were expected to hike base price in June by around INR 1,000/mt ($10/mt) citing rising cost of imported raw materials in wake of depreciating rupee triggering even more caution among buyers.
$1= INR 65.61
