Steel companies roll over prices

15 May 2017

Steel companies have rolled over prices this month, in spite of a cost push, primarily due to a weak demand. A producer said the demand was too weak to pass on any increase in raw material prices.

The price of coking coal surged by 100 per cent to around $310 a tonne in April 2017, which was nearly to the peak levels of last year, but it has already corrected to around $190 a tonne.

“Iron ore prices in India have, however, more or less been maintained. In India, public sector miner NMDC revised prices of lump ore in March to Rs 2,425 from Rs 2,325 in February, while private miners in Odisha have raised prices by about Rs 400 a tonne. Steel prices are also at the same level. The missing link is coking coal. The coking coal contract for the quarter has not been sealed yet,” ICRA senior vice-president, Jayanta Roy, said.

Source- business-standard