Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today termed the hiking of prices of flat steel products by some of the companies as 'unjustified' and said he would talk to the firms on the matter.
"There is no real justification for the steel companies to increase prices because two basic inputs which go into manufacturing steel -iron ore and coking coal- prices of these two have fallen. I shall give them a friendly advice on this matter", Singh said on the sidelines of Converging India Leadership Summit.
Leading steel companies such as SAIL and Tata Steel had announced an increase by up to Rs 1000 per tonne on flat steel products used mainly by white goods and the automobile industry, effective from August 1.
Prices of iron ore and coking coal have plunged by more than 50 per cent as against the early 2008 levels.
The steel companies had earlier reduced prices of long steel products used mainly by the infrastructure sector by up to Rs 2000 per tonne citing the prevailing market scenario.