Local India cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have continued to fall further amid sustained discounted sales by re-rollers, low restocking by key end-users, and fresh gloom over the pace of industrial growth.
Sources said that 0.9 mm benchmark CRC prices are down by INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to the range of INR 55,200-56,200/mt ($655-667/mt) ex-Mumbai and have lost INR 800/mt ($9/mt) to INR 56,000/mt ($664/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Besides, a section of the market claimed that some small-volume bookings were reported by re-rollers at prices as low as INR 54,200/mt ($643/mt) net of discount, down by INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) week on week.
Sources pointed out that industry forecast reports indicate that the automobile industry is expected to post a ‘sub-five percent’ growth in sales in the current fiscal year and hence major automobile companies can be expected to either continue or further cut back in their new bookings in the last quarter of January-March, prompting aggressive sales and discounting by standalone re-rollers.
“It will become more challenging for distributors and rerollers as the fiscal year-end approaches. Producers and dealers will be forced to push sales aggressively even at higher discounts to liquidate inventories and bring cash on the books at the time of closing accounts for the financial year. Thus, the expected rising discounted sales in the coming months,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
$1 = INR 84.30