Tata Steel is hopeful of passing on the recent price hike by iron ore companies to its clients, according to its vice chairman B Muthuraman.
However, he declined to indicate the percentage of the proposed increase in prices and the tentative time by when it was likely to implement the same.
Speaking to the media here recently after delivering the 'Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Lecture' at the Administrative Staff College of India, he said, “The steel industry is looking to the infrastructure sector, which is growing at a healthy rate.”
The demand for steel both in the domestic and international markets, particularly in the US and UK, was growing. However, the over capacity in China was a worrying factor as this would increase imports to the country.
He said iron ore companies were justified in increasing the iron ore prices as the raw material prices the world over had increased. “We are hopeful of passing on this hike to our clients lest the steel companies margins would be hit dearly,” he said.
Recently, state-run NMDC Limited increased the prices of iron ore by Rs 300-350 a tonne based on the international market trends. The company also indicated that this would be revised on a quarterly-basis.
Tata Steel during the April-June quarter posted a flat growth in sales at 1.39 million tonne due to the sluggish domestic demand and excessive imports of hot-rolled coil, the primary steel product from which other items are made, from China.