Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have recorded gains for the second consecutive week on the back of steadily rising bookings from industrials led by automobile companies’ restocking for increasing plant output levels, readying inventories for the expected spike in festival period sales in September and October.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC trade prices are up INR 600/mt ($7/mt) to INR 60,000/mt ($729/mt) ex-Mumbai and are up INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 59,200/mt ($719/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
They said that trade channels are also seen to be restocking ahead of mills hiking August base prices, which the market expects to be by an increase of around INR 1,500/mt ($18/mt).
“Rerollers have been able to significantly liquidate inventories following strong bookings from end-users since early this month. The supply side is tightening but slowly. CRC prices will consolidate at higher levels as, apart from automobiles, consumer durable manufacturers too are reporting strong sales and are actively restocking raw materials,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“The key to price consolidation will be imports. Import bookings have slowed down slightly over the past week, largely owing to the local currency breaching the INR 82 to the dollar mark and being poised to depreciate going forward, leading large industries to take a pause from new trades. Whether the pause is extended will determine how CRC price will sustain the current uptrend,” he added.
Sources at at least two mills said that they have continued to increase output from captive cold rolling mills to increase sales of higher value-added products.
$1 = INR 82.30