Are Major Indian Mills Considering Price Hike in Long Steel for June ?

Indian large mills are set to announce prices for Jun'19 deliveries and the announcement is expected to be out next week.

SteelMint learned from officials of primary mills that there may be a price hike of around INR 500-1,000/MT (USD 7-14) in specific regions due to strengthening raw material prices in domestic as well as in global market.

The basic raw materials i.e. Iron ore fines/lumps prices through the major miners in eastern India surged by around INR 600/MT (USD 9) amid positive sentiments & improved export demand. This led to surge in production cost of mills up to certain level which would reflected in finish steel price range.

However few indications of trade sources from a major mill are also about keeping prices unchanged for June deliveries considering retail segment where demand is limited or not up to the mark as monthly price range has fallen by around INR 1,500/MT (USD 21) particularly in western region through the medium/small scale mills. Whereas, large mills rebar price range has slumped by around INR 500-1,000/MT (USD 7-14) on monthly basis in specified locations.

Notably limited demand also affected production level, which recorded fall of around 16% and registered at 3.79 MnT in Apr'19 against 4.49 MnT in Mar'19.

In addition the participants shared that average movement in projects supply may led to stability in finish steel prices for June deliveries. However it would be interesting to see the revision in next week.