Pressures have continued to mount on local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) trade prices amid reports of buyers seeking deep discounts and resisting any price increases in ongoing long-term supply contract negotiations with re-rolling mills, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Monday, November 21.
Indian benchmark 0.9mm CRC trade prices are down INR 800/mt ($10/mt) to INR 62,600/mt ($767/mt) ex-Mumbai and down INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 62,000/mt($760/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
According to sources, a number of contract negotiations are currently underway between large automobile manufacturers and re-rolling mills for January-March supply contracts. However, no deals have been successful so far since, while buyers are seeking at least 5-12 percent discounts on existing contracts, re-rolling mills are seeking on average 10 percent increases.
However, trade circles maintain that rolling mills are unlikely to achieve higher prices in view of rising inventory levels across producers and the buyers’ market expected to remain strong.
“There is a lot of optimism of sales growth in key consuming industries like automobile, industrial packaging and consumer durables. But this is not being translated in the raw material market as industrial consumers remain cautious in building inventories,” an official at a private mill said.
$1= INR 81.60
