The local Indian rebar market has showed mixed trends with an overall negative bias and secondary mills continuing to push discounted sales to liquidate stocks ahead of the end of the fiscal year and to improve cash flows, even though demand across retail and large projects has remained muted, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, February 13.
India’s rebar trade prices are down INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 47,500/mt ($572/mt) ex-Mumbai, while they have remained stable at INR 47,500/mt ($572/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Trade prices are down INR 200/mt ($2/mt) to INR 42,500/mt ($512/mt) ex-Raipur, but are stable at INR 42,700/mt ($514/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
“With no big change in demand across user segments, both trade and secondary mills were seen to be focusing on stock liquidation to reduce year-end risks. Trade channels are also not interested in new bookings for the same reason,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
“Most market participants as well as medium and small-scale real estate developers in Tier I and Tier II towns are facing a liquidity crunch from financial institutions and are hamstrung in restocking raw materials. We expect the negative mood across market segments to continue for the coming several weeks,” he said.
According to an eastern India-based secondary mill operator, plants had already reduced capacity utilizations levels to 75-85 percent and could not bring them down further without risking the basic viability of operations. But at the same time, mounting inventories, reduced cash flows and other variable costs have become a challenge.
$1 = INR 83.00
