After a brief pause, the local Indian rebar market has staged a rebound with prices in some regional markets seeing the sharpest rises and with induction furnace operators in the regions hiking prices amid robust retail sales, while large construction companies have also been returning to book modest volumes from integrated mills, leading to overall buoyant conditions, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, March 25.
Sources said that rebar trade prices are up a modest INR 100/mt ($1/mt) to INR 49,400/mt ($577/mt) ex-Mumbai, but have been significantly higher gains in other regions on the back of active retail sales.
For example, rebar trade prices surged by INR 1,000/mt ($12/mt) to INR 48,000/mt ($561/mt) in Chennai and by INR 1,700/mt ($20/mt) to INR 45,300/mt ($529/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region. Rebar trade prices also recorded a significant gain of INR 2,100/mt ($25/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
According to the sources, induction furnace operators with plants in the east and central regions were the most aggressive in hiking rebar prices and at the same time were supported by strong sales reported at the retail end amid active bookings by real estate developers, resulting in the particularly strong performance of regional markets compared to major trading hubs like Mumbai in the west.
At the same time, engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) companies have been back in the market after a pause, placing bookings for “decent volume” with large integrated mills, leading to the overall buoyant conditions.
“The market has been caught by positive surprises. For one, the regional market performance outstripped major trading hubs as consumers in rural and semi-urban regions have been showing buying interest at the retail end. Secondly, large construction companies which had paused buying in the earlier week unexpectedly returned to the market to restock,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“On a note of caution, trade prices may have increased too sharply in too little time and a correction could be round the corner,” he added.
$1 = INR 85.60