Domestic steel prices have gone up by as much as Rs 10,000 a tonne on different products in the last eight months, Parliament was informed today.
According to a compilation of steel prices presented in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Steel A Sai Prathap, in April, 2010, vital steel product hot-rolled coil (HRC) was priced in the national capital at Rs 45,670 a tonne, up about 28 per cent from the rates in September, 2009.
By the end of the second quarter of the last fiscal, HRC was available in the local market at Rs 35,633 per tonne. HRC is further processed for making flat products, which are primarily consumed by the automobile and white goods industry.
"The prices of steel in the country vary widely between the various products, categories and the retail market price thereof announced by the individual producers. Moreover, the price of steel depends upon the cost of input materials, demand-supply situation in the market and movement of steel prices in the international market," Prathap said in a written reply to the Upper House of Parliament.
Currently, domestic steel products are priced in the range of Rs 27,000-49,000 a tonne. Steel prices have gone up primarily on account of the rise in the cost of raw materials like iron ore and coking coal, besides a rise in demand.
Iron ore prices are hovering in the range of $120-160 a tonne, up 90 per cent from last year, and coking coal is being sold at $200 a tonne at present, higher by 50 per cent from last year's level. Consumption has gone up by 7.6 per cent to 56.32 million tonnes in 2009-10 as against 52.35 MT a year ago.
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Concerned by the rising steel prices, the Steel Ministry had yesterday convened a meeting with the steel companies to review the price structure.
After the meet, the industry had assured the government that steel prices will not rise by more than Rs 2,500 a tonne from the current level in the next six months, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi had said.