Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have entered a downtrend aligned to the overall negative trend in flat product segments, as more large end-users have started to either defer or reduce offtakes under long-term supply agreements, leading to a rise in inventories across mills and rerollers.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC prices have inched down INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 62,000/mt ($748/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 400/mt ($4/mt) to INR 63,150/mt ($762/mt) ex-Chennai in the south. Besides, there have been a number of reports of material being available at INR 60,000/mt ($724/mt) from rerollers, net of deep discounts following the rise in inventories.
“Some of the largest end-users in automobile manufacturing are forecasting lower raw material requirements in response to inventory build-ups of passenger cars and a slowdown in sales following the price increase in January,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
“We see further downside risks to prices in the absence of any positive driver. As high frequency economic data like the monthly index of industrial production show a slowdown, we expect users to be extremely cautious and only commit fresh bookings at low prices,” he added.
$1 = INR 82.90
