Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) trade prices have recorded gains following the increase in base prices announced by mills over the past week, but trade activity was down as pessimism grew in key user industries, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, March 6.
Indian benchmark 0.9 mm prices are up INR 800/mt ($10/mt) to INR 65,100/mt ($794/mt) ex-Mumbai and up INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 63,550/mt ($775/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
The sources said that bearish market conditions in the CRC market have been reflected in the fact, despite trade prices inching up, they still remain at a 6-10 percent discount to the higher base prices announced by mills in the past week.
“There is a serious concern that the pend-up post-pandemic demand is tapering off. Manufacturing sector growth is slowing down. For example, in key user industries like automobile, sales growth in February eased to high single digits from high double digits in the case of most manufacturers,” a Mumbai-based distributor said.
“Rising CRC prices, along with softening demand, are resulting in the steady fall in market activity. Mills, despite aggressive pricing, will need to factor in increasing price elasticity… rising prices resulting in falling demand…. the question is whether producers will take pricing measures to bolster demand or solely focus on increasing their margin realizations,” he said.
At least two officials at private mills said that another base price increase of at least INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) could not be ruled out later in March.
$1 = INR 82.00
