Prices in the local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) market have continued to lose ground for the third consecutive week, moving down by INR 300/mt week on week to INR 46,000/mt ($663/mt) ex-works, in response to the slowdown in restocking by market intermediaries and the rise in imports, traders said on Tuesday, May 7.
“Pressures on prices have been steadily building up amid the excess supplies available in the market, dealers virtually stopping all restocking, and domestic steel mills deciding to maintain base price unchanged for the current month despite the slowdown in market activity,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
According to market sources, domestic prices have also been coming under pressure from the increase in the number of end-users booking significant volumes of ex-Japan and ex-South Korea CRC for end of May and early June deliveries.
News of Indian manufacturing sector growth falling to an eight-month low has also depressed sentiment and market participants have thus ruled out any short-term revival of demand from end-user industries and hence have been steadily reducing fresh bookings from Indian steel mills to the bare minimum, thereby putting prices under sustained pressure, the sources added.
$1 = INR 69.34