Flat Steel Market Report
A. Market Watch
The sluggishness continued in the flat steel market on weak demand. The market sentiments continued to be weak. Amidst this SAIL has increased its base prices in an attempt to lift the sentiments. Nevertheless, given the current situation of the demand which continues to be fragile the raised prices might not generate much interest. Meanwhile, the appreciation in the rupee has checked the imports which might support the prices. Thus it is the matter of time that would state whether the rise would sustain or not.
B. Week on Week overview
Hard Facts: The domestic market failed to see any optimism in the market even this week as the demand once again failed to see any recovery. Amidst this situation in an attempt to lift the market sentiments SAIL raised its flat steel prices by upto Rs 800/Mt. Current offer (excluding VAT) from Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is at around Rs 40,200/Mt and Bokaro Steel Ltd (BSL) at Rs 41,100/. Plate prices have also gone up by Rs 800/t to Rs 38,000/t (excluding VAT) from Bhilai Steel Plant. However, the question remains as how much of this would be accepted by the buyers as the market remained mostly pessimistic about higher prices being achieved given the sluggish demand. The market has been slow as the buyers are shying away from lifting material. Nevertheless, the imports have been slow due to appreciation in rupee. The average transaction prices for IS 2062 grade A/B structural HRC, 3mm thick and above averages at Rs 33,500-34,000/mt.
A glance through the positives & negatives of the flats market:
1