Ingot and billet prices were trended flat to up on Tuesday in Raipur, Mumbai, and Mandi Gobindgarh markets.
The daily Davis Indexes for billet and rebar in Raipur on Tuesday remained unchanged to Rs33,800/mt ($462.81/mt) and Rs39,000/mt ($534.02/mt) ex-works, respectively, amid healthy rebar demand reported by few steel mills after the Union Budget 2021 presented on Monday. Pellet Sponge offers moved marginally upward at Rs23,300/mt ($319.04/mt) ex-works Raipur.
Industry leaders believe that domestic steel prices will not fall any further and the budget will put it on a recovery path with demand picking-up soon. Sources said traders and retailers will resume restocking finished steel in the coming days after a brief pause before the Budget.
In Mumbai, the daily indexes for billet and rebar remained flat at Rs35,500/mt ex-works and Rs42,500/mt ex-works, respectively, since Monday.
In Mandi Gobindgarh, the daily index for ingot was up by Rs300/mt to Rs36,000/mt with a rise in domestic scrap prices.
In Duragpur, the bi-weekly index for billet fell by Rs1,900/mt to Rs34,500/mt ex-works on Tuesday compared to last Thursday, while rebar fell by Rs1,600/mt to Rs39,000/mt ex-works.
In Chennai, the bi-weekly index for billet dropped by Rs3,000/mt to Rs35,000/mt ex-works on Tuesday with hardly any buyers, while rebar fell by Rs2,000/mt to Rs42,000/mt ex-works.
A few secondary steel mills in Chennai noted that removal of 2.5pc customs duty on steel scrap will bring some relief to the cost by Rs600-700/mt, however, imported scrap prices are still quite high compared to local scrap. This is the reason why they might prefer local scrap in the furnaces.
($1=Rs73.03)