The local Indian rebar market has showed mixed trends in the past week, with a few large mills attempting to hike prices on the back of recent gains but they have faced buyers’ resistance and the withdrawal of large buyers in the construction sector, while market intermediaries have preferred to wait for a definitive trend to emerge in the New Year before committing to restock, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, December 31.
Sources said that rebar trade prices are stable at INR 47,300/mt ($553/mt) ex-Mumbai but have lost INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 45,800/mt ($536/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar trade prices have lost INR 100/mt ($1/mt) to INR 42,200/mt ($494/mt) ex-Raipur but have gained INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 40,700/mt ($476/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
A section of traders maintained that a few large mills rushed to leverage the recent recovery in the market to push price hikes but that this was counter-productive as the market revival was led by the presence of few large engineering procurement construction (EPC) companies restocking, but overall trading in the market has still been too low to absorb higher ex-mill prices.
“Trade volumes are too low to support any price hikes by mills. A clearer trend will emerge once business activity picks up after the year-end holidays,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“In recent weeks, large EPC companies have been driving the market while stock movement at the retail end continues to be slow in response to dull activity in the real estate sector. Distributors are also facing liquidity challenges and are cautious in restocking,” he said.
$1 = INR 85.50