Over the past week, prices in the local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) market have risen by 1,000 INR/mt and have breeched the INR 50,000/mt level, now standing at INR 51,000/mt ($777/mt) ex-works, amid market expectations of higher export shipments by domestic steel mills and of a tightening of supplies in the local market, traders said on Tuesday, April 17.
“The market absorbed base price revisions by steel mills early in the month. The increase in prices thereafter has caught market participants unawares,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“Expectations of price stability were belied largely by reports of local steel mills planning aggressive CRC shipments overseas buoyed by higher prices, lower competition from ex-China CRC, and the steady weakening of the Indian currency, leading to a tightening of domestic supplies,” the trader added.
According two other traders, market estimates of CRC inventories at steel mills may also have been exaggerated, resulting in prices seeking higher levels and a rush among dealers to conclude fresh bookings.
$1 = INR 65.60