Indian thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) rebar prices have trended downwards during the past week across local regional markets amid scarce trading activity owing to the seasonal fall in demand, traders said on Tuesday, August 6.
Rebar prices in the northern India region have softened by INR 300/mt during the past week to around INR 33,300/mt ($471/mt) ex-stockyard, while in the eastern regional market rebar prices have moved down sharper by INR 500/mt week on week to INR 33,100/mt ($468/mt) ex-stockyard, the traders said.
“Rebar is facing sluggish demand owing to seasonal considerations. There is an overall fall in bookings due to the monsoon rains across the country and the slowdown in construction activity,” a Kolkata-based trader said.
“While the overall price has been trending downwards since the last few weeks, there are regional variations in the decline in prices. This is largely owing to variations in the spread of monsoon rains across the country such as heavy rainfall in the western regions compared to the northern markets around Delhi and hence large construction activity is also seeing differing rates of slowdown,” the trader added.
According to an official with Shyam Steel, one of the largest TMT rebar producers in the country, apart from the usual fall in seasonal demand, booking volumes have taken the biggest hit in business-to-business (B2B) channels largely owing to several large government infrastructure projects slowing down in the eastern and central Indian regions, as most of these projects are facing lower fund allocation from the government.
The official said that, while the dip in seasonal demand is expected to rebound over the next two months with the monsoon season withdrawing, the slowdown in off-take from government projects will continue to keep local rebar prices under pressure.
$1 = INR 70.77