Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have showed a mixed trend over the past week, with a negative bias stemming from the slight rise in inventories at a few re-rollers and cautious restocking seen from large industrial users like automobile manufacturers.
Sources said that the benchmark 0.9 mm CRC price shows a small loss of INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 51,300/mt ($574/mt) ex-Mumbai, but is stable at INR 56,000/mt ($627/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Several re-rollers and a few large mills are reported to be seeing a rise in inventory levels. At the same time, even though automobile manufacturers despite robust sales over the past couple of months remain cautious on fresh bookings, keeping prices under pressure, the sources said.
At the same time, large mills are expected to maintain base prices and a few market participants are even anticipating a moderate price reduction to check inventories, causing buyers to defer bookings.
“Prices are almost at a five-year low. But buying volumes still do not seem to be improving, indicating a bearish outlook from most consumer sectors. The car and specialized packaging industries are reporting strong sales. But this is not getting translated into aggressive raw material restocking. Hence, mills and intermediaries are seeing rising inventories,” a Mumbai-based trader told SteelOrbis.
“If mills do adjust prices lower, it might improve sentiments slightly. But overall prices are likely to remain range-bound,” he added.
$1= INR 89.34
