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Indian mills roll over list prices of HR plate for Apr'23 sales

Indian producers of hot-rolled (HR) plates have rolled over their list prices for April sales. Subsequent to the revision, prices now stand at: Trade-level plate prices, ...

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6 Apr 2023, 18:02 IST
Indian mills roll over list prices of HR plate for Apr'23 sales

Indian producers of hot-rolled (HR) plates have rolled over their list prices for April sales. Subsequent to the revision, prices now stand at:
Indian mills roll over list prices of HR plate for Apr'23 sales

Trade-level plate prices, however, have remained rangebound, as per SteelMint assessment on 5 April. Prices of plates (E250, 20-40mm) were assessed at INR 62,500-63,500/t ($763-775/t) exy-Mumbai. Prices continue to hover at this level since the beginning of March. Prices of E250, 5-10mm plates stood at INR 60,500-61,500/t ($738-750/t) exy-Mumbai. These prices are exclusive of GST at 18%. (INR 1 = USD 0.0122021 ; USD 1 = INR 81.9528).

Why have mills rolled over prices for April?

1. Trade-level prices lower than mills' list prices: Trade market prices have stayed lower than the list prices announced by mills since early March. For instance, trade-level prices have moved in the range of INR 62,500-63,500/t ($763-775/t) exy-Mumbai since the first week of March, while SAIL had announced the list price at INR 64,000/t ($781/t) exy-Mumbai for March sales. Private steel majors, too, increased their prices to INR 69,000/t ($842/t) exy-Mumbai for March. Thus, the private mills have maintained their price levels for April sales, while list prices of the PSU steel major is yet to be confirmed.

2. Supply constraints in traders market: The supply of plates has remained tight in March and is likely to stay at the same level in April, especially from the private mills. The filled orderbooks of private mills, exposure to export markets, and long-term contractual procurement by the domestic infrastructure, construction and green energy sectors have led to lower allocations for the traders market. Yet, instead of increasing, trade-level prices have stayed mostly unchanged amid low buying interest in the traders market, SteelMint learnt from sources.

There has been an addition of 1,261 km in the national highways network to 8,064 km in February, the highest in this fiscal year, as per monthly updates from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Also, there has been a monthly addition of 486 megawatts (MW) to 64,381 (MW) in the installed capacity of solar power and 32 MW to 42,015 MW of wind power. The government's push towards improving inland connectivity and shifting to green energy have led to improved demand from these segments.

However, global HR plate prices have edged down a bit and are showing signs of pressure building up. For instance, Chinese heavy plate export offers that had gone up to $690/t FOB in early March declined to $675/t FOB on 5 April. It remains to be seen whether bearish global market sentiments will impact domestic prices too.

 

6 Apr 2023, 18:02 IST

 

 

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