Steel prices hike

Steel turns costlier in the new year:

Increase in input costs the reason for price hike

Steel producers have decided to ring in the new year by announcing a price hike. State-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and private players — JSW Steel and Essar Steel — have raised prices by as much as 5 per cent.

SAIL has raised prices across all categories by 3 per cent which is around Rs 1,000 a tonne.

The price hike is on account of an increase in input costs and revised prices are effective from January 1.

JSW Steel, one of the largest private sector steelmakers, also announced a hike of 4-5 per cent on its flat products.

According to a Delhi-based steel trader, the company has also increased prices of its long products by a similar range but JSW could not confirm this.

The prices for JSW Steel products have risen by as much as Rs 1,700 a tonne. The price hike is effective immediately.

Essar Steel too has decided to hike prices by 5 per cent.

The latest round of price hikes are driven by increasing iron ore and coking coal prices, both of which are key inputs for steel-making. State-run NMDC recently raised iron ore prices by 5.22 per cent for the January-March quarter. Coking coal prices for the January-March quarter have also gone up by about 8-10 per cent over the previous quarter. JSW also raised prices for its products by about Rs 500 a tonne last month.

Tata Steel, though, is yet to increase prices. However, according to steel traders, an announcement of a price increase from Tata Steel is on the cards.

Both private and public sector steel companies were gearing up for a price hike from December last year, with most of them predicting a hike of up to 5 per cent in January. The hike comes after prices fell by about Rs 700-1,000 a tonne in November last year amid softening global prices and appreciation of the rupee against the dollar.