Lockdowns and overall negative sentiment in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to weigh down on steel demand. Semi-finished and long steel prices, therefore, continued their fall for the third day. Late last week, mills tried raising asking prices for rebar by Rs2,500/mt, especially in Mumbai, citing production cuts. But end-users were unwilling to accept the price rise amid economic uncertainties in the current business environment resulting in a decline of Rs2,000/mt in the past two days.
In Mumbai, the daily index for rebar fell by Rs1,000/mt ($13.26/mt) to Rs49,300/mt ($653.82/mt) ex-works; while that for billet was unchanged at Rs43,000/mt ex-works.
The daily Davis Index for billet in Raipur was at Rs41,100/mt ex-works, down by Rs400/mt; while the index for rebar was at Rs46,500/mt ex-works; down by Rs500/mt. Retail shops are to remain shut until the lockdown ends on April 26, which has impacted sales of finished steel, especially rebar.
In Mandi Gobindgarh, the index for ingot rose by Rs300/mt to Rs43,100/mt ex-works.
($1=Rs75.40)