Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have moved up by INR 500/mt during the past week to INR 50,000/mt ($767/mt) ex-works, with reports in the market indicating that domestic steel mills will leverage the current tight supplies to go in for a second base price revision before the end of the current month, traders said on Tuesday, March 20.
“Tightness of supply is expected to continue to provide support for prices as there is no report mentioning when Steel Authority of India’s Bokaro Steel Plant’s CRC mill, which is now going through a maintenance shutdown, will be back in operation,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Indian steel mills have indicated that flat product prices will move up by at least another 6-7 percent and, though the mills did not give any timeframe, the market expects the mills to announce a second price hike for the current month soon,” the trader added.
Market sources said that, unlike hot rolled coil (HRC) which has seen some limited import transactions during the past week, in the case of CRC there have not been any reports of import interest among traders and the further weakening of the rupee to INR 65.20 to the US dollar will continue to act as a deterrent to import competition.
$1 = INR 65.20