Local Indian rebar trade prices have remained under prolonged pressure and have hit a two-year low with producers continuing to drop prices to liquidate stocks, while trade channels have been reducing restocking to a bare minimum amid falling retail sales, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, July 25.
Indian rebar trade prices have lost INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 46,500/mt ($568/mt) ex-Mumbai and are down INR 200/mt ($2/mt) at INR 47,800/mt ($584/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar trade prices have lost INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 42,700/mt ($522/mt) ex-Raipur and are down INR 700/mt ($9/mt) to INR 43,000/mt ($575/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
“To take a positive view, prices have touched a bottom now. The stronger negative is that there are no signals of a rebound or a revival evident in the short and medium term,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“The biggest concern for every market participant is the pace at which rebar prices have fallen to a two-year low. It was just in March 2022 that rebar prices had touched an all-time high of around INR 68,000/mt ($831/mt) average across all regional markets. When prices fall so fast, any recovery is also tending to be prolonged,” he said.
According to an official with eastern India’s largest secondary mill, prices of intermediates like billets and sponge iron have fallen but mills have not been benefitted because of overall inflationary pressures leading to a surge in costs of energy and higher interests on bank funds and logistical charges.
He said that, even after cutting down plant utilization levels, producers were still carrying average inventories of more than 45-60 days’ production equivalent and are forced to drop prices, which offer almost negative margins.
$1 = INR 81.80