Local Indian rebar prices have continued on a prolonged downtrend and the existing bearish conditions have been further aggravated by the festival holidays in some regions, leading to a further drop in trading activities, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, September 17.
Indian rebar trade prices have lost INR 400/mt ($5/mt) to INR 45,300/mt ($540/mt) ex-Mumbai, but have remained stable at INR 46,000/mt ($548/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar trade prices are down INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 40,700/mt ($485/mt) ex-Raipur and have lost INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 39,800/mt ($474/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
According to sources, billet prices have witnessed some of the sharpest declines in recent weeks and secondary mills were seen to be attempting to pass on the benefits of lower costs of semis in order to push higher volumes of rebar in the market, to keep inventories in check.
“The market is moving into the long festival season ahead and market participants are in no mood to commit to fresh trades given that the weak demand is expected to be sustained well after the lean monsoon season ends in a few weeks. We do not anticipate any uptick in demand normally seen during the post-monsoon season,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“Without any such usual demand improvement, we strongly feel that secondary mills will be forced to consider further cutbacks in output in view of the steadily rising oversupply in the market,” he said.
$1 = INR 83.90
