After a brief pause for sideways movement, prices in the local Indian hot rolled coil (HRC) market have increased by INR 1,000/mt ($15/mt) during the past week to INR 38,500/mt ($577/mt) ex-works, as local steel mills have commenced base price revisions for the month, traders said on Monday, November 7.
“Although there has not been any formal announcement yet, there are several market reports that local steel mills have have started hiking base prices and more mills are expected to make their formal announcements later this week” a Mumbai-based trader said.
“The reports indicate that local steel mills are going in for a INR 1,000/mt ($15/mt) increase in base price for all flat products, citing rising costs of coking coal,” the trader said.
“However, it is still too early to say whether the increase in base prices will be absorbed by the market or face a correction as the demand growth was exaggerated in previous months according to some reports,” he added.
Traders said that transaction volumes during the past week shot up significantly as dealers rushed to stock up ahead of the price revision but most transactions were concluded only at revised price levels.
$1 = INR 66.74