The local Indian rebar market has remained stable with a negative bias in the past week amid scarce trading conditions, with induction furnace operators pushing higher volumes to liquidate rising inventories, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, January 16.
Indian rebar trade prices have remained stable at INR 48,600/mt ($586/mt) ex-Mumbai, while quotes from Chennai in the south have not been available.
Rebar trade prices are down INR 400/mt ($5/mt) to INR 43,100/mt ($520/mt) ex-Raipur and are also down INR 400/mt to INR 43,200/mt ($521/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
“A section of the market attributes the low trading to the festivals during the past week. But the reality is that fundamentals of demand have been extremely weak for the past several weeks. Not only is the buying at the retail end from real estate and rural construction slowing down week on week, tender-based sales of large mills are also attracting very low bids as large construction projects are facing a year-end funds crunch,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“Regional disparities are widening. Even if price remain stable in metropolitan markets, demand in the hinterland is falling rapidly, reflecting the sharper fall in prices in regional markets. Only need-based purchases are being completed as no end-users are willing to carry stocks,” he said.
$1 = INR 82.90
