Indian steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has rolled over long steel product prices for June deliveries, a company official told Davis Index. Other larger steel players are most likely to follow suit. In May, company had raised prices of all long products by Rs1,000-1,500/mt ($14-20/mt).
Its rebar prices are now priced at Rs53,500-54,000/mt ($733-740/mt) ex-Chennai, according to a Vishakhapatnam-based dealer. Rebar sales in May were low compared to April.
Market players said that large infra projects and MSME sectors witnessed a slowdown from mid-April to May-end due to spike in COVID-19 cases and limited availability of labourers due to the lock down, which impacted rebar sales.
However, some sectors are performing well such as shipbuilding, the Power Grid of Corporation of India and Indian Railways, which is supporting long products’ demand.
Meanwhile, company is actively exporting to compensate for lack of demand in domestic market as many states have extended lockdown restrictions till June 7 and June 15.
In May, RINL exported 100,000mt steel, mostly semis products like billet/blooms.
($1=Rs73.01)