Major steel makers say they will announce hike today. SAIL announced hike this morning
Indian steel producers JSW Steel Limited and Essar Steel will increase prices of flat products by 4%-5% today, due to surging raw material costs. This morning, the Steel Authority of India announced a 3% rise in the price of its products.
"We will increase prices of flat products in the range of 4%-5% depending on grades and products, as coking coal price for January-March contract has been increased by 4%-5% compared to the previous quarter, while iron ore (price) has gone by up by 8%-10%," Sharad Mahendra, senior vice-president, marketing and sales, JSW Steel, told Moneylife today. Last month, JSW Steel increased product prices by an average of Rs500 per tonne.
Essar Steel also confirmed that it will increase prices of flat products by around 5% on account of higher raw material prices. "We will increase product prices by about 5%," said B Ganesh Pai, vice-president, corporate communications, Essar Group. Essar Steel makes flat products.
Moneylife had reported on 9 December 2010 that steel makers were likely to increase prices by between 3% and 6% due to higher raw material prices in early January 2011. (http://www.moneylife.in/article/4/12082.html)
Today, JSW said it will increase the prices of its long products also, but it could not give the range of the price hike.
Flat products are used mainly by the automobiles and consumer durable goods sectors, while long products are used for construction and infrastructure projects.
"Prices on long and flat products in the international market have gone up, but primarily higher input costs have fuelled prices of steel products," Mr Mahendra said. Flat products account for around 70% of JSW's production.
Meanwhile, Tata Steel is also expected to announce a price hike on its products some time today. However, company sources were not available for comment.
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