Local Indian cold rolled coil (CRC) prices have remained stable during the past week amid thin trading conditions and continued sales at discounts amid the oversupply situation and users resorting to only need-based bookings as the fiscal year draws to a close.
Sources said that benchmark 0.9 mm CRC prices are stable at INR 61,700/mt ($743/mt) ex-Mumbai and are unchanged at INR 62,450/mt ($752/mt) ex-Chennai in the south, But discounted sales have been reported from the western regional market in the range of INR 59,000-60,000/mt ($711-723/mt) as mills and rerollers have resorted to aggressive stock liquidation to improve liquidity at the close of the current fiscal year.
Several in trade channels have averred that large industrial users like specialized packaging and automobile makers are facing a slowdown in sales growth and strains on margins, and hence have been resorting to aggressive raw material inventory management including stringent just-in-time stock handling, cutting down on large volumes of raw materials in own stockyards.
“Industrial users continue to defer lifting stocks under long-term supply agreements and hence producers are pushing higher surplus volumes for merchant sales, aggravating supply-side pressures on prices,” a Mumbai-based distributor told SteelOrbis.
$1 = INR 83.00