Coronavirus disrupts supply chain, slows down domestic steel price rally

Manufacturers say some room to increase prices exists, as cost of coking coal, a key input, has gone up

Though the domestic steel industry is poised for a small price hike in March, continued weak demand amid supply chain disruption due to Coronavirus is expected to keep domestic steel prices under pressure.

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices have already corrected by Rs 1,000 per tonne in the past few days to Rs 39,000 per tonne.

Prices had peaked to nearly Rs 48,000 in October 2018 before falling to Rs 35,000 per tonne October 2019.

“We are looking at a price hike of Rs 500-750 per tonne from March 1 as global coking coal prices are up and we are about 10 per