The local Indian rebar market has continued to show mixed trends with prices gaining in major trading hubs riding on the back of sustained buying by large construction companies but losing ground in regional markets where retail sales have remained sluggish from weak demand in sectors like real estate development, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, February, 18.
Sources said that rebar trade prices are up INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 48,000/mt ($552/mt) ex-Mumbai and have gained INR 100/mt ($1.20/mt) to INR 46,000/mt ($529/mt) ex-Chennai in the south as large engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) companies have continued to make large bookings and restock raw materials for several newly launched large infrastructure projects in the western region.
However, sluggish demand in fragmented sectors like medium and small-scale real estate development and semi-urban infrastructure, which generally source raw material from retail, has reflected a negative trend in regional markets, with rebar trade prices losing INR 300/mt ($3/mt) to INR 42,400/mt ($488/mt) ex-Raipur and down INR 400/mt ($5/mt) to INR 42,800/mt ($493/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
“There is a lot of divergence market to market. In larger trading hubs, rebar prices are finding good support from large bookings by construction companies. But, in eastern and central regions, induction furnace operators and distributors are having to drop prices to liquidate stocks as demand in unorganized sectors is weak,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
$1 = INR 86.90