Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have edged up in reaction to mills completing base price hikes for January, but the pace of the uptrend was slower compared to most other flat product categories as market intermediaries claimed “too many supplies were floating across regional markets”, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, January 9.
Indian benchmark 0.9mm CRC trade prices have gained INR 1,500/mt ($18/mt) to INR 60,700/mt ($733/mt) ex-Mumbai and are up INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 58,750/mt(710/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
“In several regional markets, the increase in price is misleading, because some sellers, particularly in re-rolling segments have increased discounts to 8-12 percent from 5-10 percent earlier, so in effect nullifying the official trade price rise,” a steel sector analyst at a Mumbai-based financial advisory agency said.
“The automobile industry might have recorded the historical highest growth in sales in 2022, but it will be a challenge to sustain such a growth rate in 2023. The high base effect, inflationary pressures and price increases across all vehicle categories will come into play to temper the growth in sales. Manufacturers are factoring in these changes in market conditions and are extremely cautious in restocking raw material inventories,” he said.
Sources at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited, an exclusive flat steel producer, said that, while inventory levels at integrated mills were ‘comfortable as of now’, there have been reports of a pile-up of inventories, with re-rollers having increased outputs based on imported hot rolled coil (HRC), and hence inventory pressures on prices and discounting have been seen in the certain sections of sellers.
The sources at the mill ruled out that there were pressures on integrated mills to push volumes at discounts and said that downside risks from current levels were ‘minimal’ and in the short term prices will remain range-bound.
$1 = INR 82.80
