After a prolonged downslide, local Indian rebar trade prices stabilized at lower levels amid thin trading and limited upside seen by market participants from weakening demand across user segments in retail and bulk sales, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday.
Indian rebar trade prices remained stable at INR 48,700/mt ($586/mt) ex-Mumbai and INR 47,500/mt ($572/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar prices also remained unchanged at INR 43,200/mt ($520/mt) ex-Raipur and INR 43,200/mt ($520/mt) ex-Durgapur in the south.
However, despite a pause of the falling market, trade circles remained pessimistic as trade conditions were marked by very small volumes with neither trade channels nor large engineering procurement, construction (EPC) companies committing fresh bookings.
“The pause in price movement is not a very positive considering that fundamentals of demand remain weak while supplies from secondary mills, even after sporadic cuts in plant capacity utilization levels remain on the higher side,” a Kolkata based distributor said.
“Also price fall has been checked not by any buying support but because secondary mills stopped pushing discounted sales. Further downside risks are very imminent going forward,” he said.
However, a section of the producers maintained a more optimistic outlook. “We are looking towards a rebound in 3-4 weeks. We believe government focus on infrastructure to be the next driver of the market,” an official with Tata Steel Limited said.
“We expect the government to continue significant spends on infrastructure in the national budget to be placed before Parliament on February 1. This will have an overall buoyant impact across long products,” he said
Exchange rate: $1= INR 83.10
