The brief improvement in the local Indian rebar market seen late last month has proved short-lived as prices have fallen across a wide range, amid a deepening of trade discounts and reductions in long product prices by integrated mills against a backdrop of very limited transactions and weak sentiments, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, December 7.
Rebar prices have slumped in a wide range of INR 300-1,700/mt ($4-23/mt) across various regional markets with rising inventories and low inquiries forcing integrated mills to reduce base prices. Moreover, in some regions the decline was up to INR 2,600/mt or $34/mt.
Sentiments were impacted by reports that government-run exclusive long steel producer Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) saw around a 30 percent increase in inventory levels in November and that secondary induction furnace route producers have been increasing trade discounts to cope with falling retail sales.
According to trade circles and sources, ex-Raipur rebar prices are heard at INR 44,200/mt ($586/mt) ex-warehouse, down from INR 46,800/mt ($621/mt) ex-warehouse a week ago.
Ex-Mumbai rebar prices are down INR 1,500/mt to INR 48,750-49,750/mt ($646-659/mt), while small-volume bookings at the week’s low of INR 43,500/mt ($579/mt) ex-works were reported by a southern India based secondary mill, the sources said.
Integrated steel mills reduced base prices by around INR 2,000/mt ($27/mt), taking the average price to INR 56,000-58,000/mt ($742-769/mt) ex-works with sources maintaining that base or listed prices are largely notional as deep discounts irrespective of volumes booked in range of INR 3,000-4,000/mt ($39-53/mt) are available from producers.
“Multiple pressures are mounting up in long products… retail trade inquiries have fallen, inventories are on the rise, and both buyers and sellers are preferring to wait on the sidelines for prices to stabilize,” a source at Shyam Steel, eastern India’s largest rebar producer, said.
$1 = INR 75.40
