Prices in the local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) market have remained stable for the third consecutive week at INR 44,000/mt ($687/mt) ex-works due to dull market conditions and expected base price revision by steel mills in the new year, traders said on Tuesday, December 26.
Market sources stated that most of the new bookings made during the past week have been restricted to small to medium volumes.
The sources said that the market is expecting local steel mills to increase their CRC base price by around INR 1,000/mt. However, considering the already ‘comfortable inventories with market intermediaries’, dealers are ‘not in mood to beat the price hike.’
However, two other traders said that while imports of flat products like hot rolled coil (HRC) is seen to have increased during November, imported volumes of CRC have been low and this may ensure lower competition to local prices and hence resistance to increase in local base price from end users may be limited.
$1 = INR 64.06