Local Indian rebar trade prices have remained stable amid low trade activity owing to the festival and national holidays and market participants being slightly uncertain regarding the market direction, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, October 3.
Sources said that rebar trade prices have remained stable at INR 52,100/mt ($626/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also unchanged, at INR 51,800/mt ($623/mt) ex-Chennai, in the south.
Rebar prices have also remained unchanged at INR 46,600/mt ($560/mt) ex-Raipur and have been stable at INR 46,900/mt ($564/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
Most market players maintain that the market direction has been unclear once full business activity resumed over the course of the current week. They said that, on one hand, demand is expected to remain strong but, on the other, all secondary and integrated mills have been rapidly increasing long product output and pushing higher volumes into the market and the price movement is unclear in response to this supply-side pressure.
“Demand for construction steel is good. But a further strengthening seems to be delayed by extended monsoon rains in several parts of the country, prompting large consumers, engineering procurement, construction (EPC) companies, to defer bookings. This will play out as a range-bound movement in rebar prices for a few more weeks,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“But we expect rebar to have further upside potential later in the month, as mills continue to increase prices and as dealers resume restocking. However, the pace of the increase will be slower than what we saw in September,” he said.
$1 = INR 83.20