Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained unchanged for the third consecutive week at INR 51,000/mt ($743/mt) ex-works amid inactive market conditions, with dealers unwilling to make fresh bookings, anticipating base price adjustments by domestic steel mills for August deliveries, traders said on Tuesday, July 31.
“The next market direction after the current stagnant conditions will be determined by the pricing strategy local mills will adopt next month,” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The market expects an adjustment in mills’ base prices in view of high inventories across market participants and the slow movement of stocks. But I personally feel that even if local mills adjust their base prices, the size of the adjustment will not be substantial as steel companies are unlikely to sacrifice margins,” the trader added.
Market sources said that no significant volume of CRC export transactions was reported in the market by any of the large exporting steel mills and only small-volume transactions to South Asian markets were concluded by commercial exporters, and these did not have any impact on reviving the overall depressed sentiments.
$1 = INR 68.62