Steel companies SAIL, Tata Steel, Essar, Bhushan and JSW have hiked prices of their products by up to Rs 2,000 a tonne on the back of a rise in demand in the domestic market.
The country’s largest steel producer SAIL increased the prices of flat and long products by Rs 1,500, while Tata Steel hiked the rates of flat products by up to Rs 1,500. Bhushan Steel hiked the prices of its long and flat products by up to Rs 2,000 a tonne.
Flat steel products are primarily used by the white goods and auto industries, while long products are used in the construction sector.
Executives at Essar Steel said they raised flat products’ prices by up to 4 per cent from the current range of Rs 28,000-30,000 a tonne. JSW also increased the prices of its long and flat products by up to 5 per cent.
“Internationally, steel prices had firmed up and there was a surge in demand. Based on this, we raised the prices of our flat products in the range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a tonne in the spot market,” Tata Steel spokesperson Sanjay Choudhary said.
SAIL said the prices of its products had been increased with immediate effect. “Prices were market-driven and there had been improvement in the scenario, leading to an increase of Rs 1,500 in both our flat and long products,” SAIL spokesperson R K Singhal said.
A Bhushan steel spokesperson said the company had increased prices by Rs 2,000 a tonne with immediate effect. While a spokesperson at Essar Steel said prices were increased by 3-5 per cent with immediate effect.
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Globally, steel prices had recovered by about $50 (over Rs 2,300) a tonne to about $450 (nearly Rs 21,000) a tonne, after falling by around $150-200 (about Rs 7,000-9,300) a tonne in the last two months due to fear of over capacity in Chinese steel mills and the import threat.
Earlier, steel producers had cut prices by about Rs 2,000 a tonne in the past two months, following a fall in global prices and threat from cheaper imports.