Local Indian rebar trade prices have staged a smart recovery over the past week with induction furnace operators surprised by the unusual level of bookings for the monsoon season by both trade channels and engineering, project, construction (EPC) companies, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, June 28.
Indian trade rebar prices have gained INR 500-1,500/mt ($6-19/mt) with the highest gains seen in western and northern regional markets. Rebar trade prices are up INR 1,500/mt ($19/mt) to INR 53,900/mt ($688/mt) ex-Mumbai and up INR 750/mt ($9/mt) to INR 53,750/mt ($686/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region.
Rebar trade prices have moved up INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 55,500/mt ($708/mt) ex-Chennai in the south and a similar gain of INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 52,000/mt ($663/mt) was reported in the eastern regional market of Durgapur.
According to a Kolkata-based distributor, while it was unusual to see strong restocking during the current monsoon season, it was possible that large construction companies and real estate developers were seeing a depletion in stocks and were placing bookings as deliveries would take longer during the rainy season.
However, an official with an eastern region-based secondary mill maintained a more fundamentally positive assessment that rebar prices have completed their current downtrend and the recent sustained fall has evoked confidence among major users in construction to restock raw materials.
The official said that, with trade prices down an average 15 percent across various regional markets over the past two to three months, buyers were returning to the market which had bottomed out.
$1 = INR 78.40