Positivity has returned in the local Indian rebar market with prices inching up as buyers returned and with booking volumes improving in the eastern and central regions, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, October 25.
Indian rebar trade prices have gained INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 55,700/mt ($673/mt) ex-Mumbai and are also up INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 54,700/mt ($661/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar trade prices have recovered by INR 400/mt ($4/mt) to INR 50,900/mt ($615/mt) ex-Raipur in the central region and are up INR 300/mt ($4/mt) to INR 50,500/mt ($610/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
“The gains in rebar prices have been modest. But trade channels resuming business after the holidays are offering support to the market. Both sponge iron and billet prices are firming up too,” a Kolkata-based long products distributor said.
“But the recovery is still tentative because improvements in the market conditions are noticed only in the central and eastern regions. Conditions are slow in major areas in the west and north. The short-term price trend can move in either direction from current levels depending on how trade channels can push higher volumes into the market and improve price realizations,” he said.
According to an official at Shyam Steel, eastern India’s largest rebar producer, customer-centric sellers will navigate choppy market conditions better because major user industries are becoming lean, cost-efficient and more supply-chain conscious, and suppliers will need to change their marketing and pricing strategies accordingly also.
Citing an example, he said long steel mills will need to increasingly focus less on long-term sales contracts at fixed prices and fine-tune supplies with just-in-time inventory management of users at flexible pricing, which would translate to a higher degree of price variation in the short term.
$1 = INR 82.80
