Local Indian rebar prices of both primary and secondary producers have suffered setbacks amid the sharp fall in trading activities and the absence of any significant volume bookings, amid fears that the construction and real estate sectors will take the biggest hits from the spreading lockdown restrictions across the country, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, April 27.
Sources said that, in the absence of any trading activity and bookings from key end-use industries, discounts of 3-5 percent on integrated steel mills base prices of INR 52,000-53,000/mt ($696-710/mt) ex-works have been heard.
However, deals were negligible across the western region and are reported to be coming to a standstill in the southern region, as Karnataka announced a lockdown on Monday night.
Higher discounts of 5-7 percent were reported from secondary rebar producers on base prices of INR 49,000-50,000/mt ($656-669/mt) across eastern regional markets, the sources said.
“The mood in the market has worsened from negative to almost panic. As the pandemic situation worsens, no end-user in construction and real estate is willing to commit funds when projects are threatening to come to a halt,” an official at Shyam Steel, eastern India’s largest rebar producer, said.
“Plant operations can only become more challenging going forward from the restriction of the movement of manpower and the shortage of availability of workers,” he added.
$1 = INR 74.70
