Jindal Stainless may raise prices by 2-5% in April

Jindal Stainless is likely to review prices over the next fortnight, on the back of increasing input prices.

Arvind Parakh, director Jindal Stainless said, the company was likely to raise prices by two to five per cent, due to rising ferro chrome prices, which increased by around Rs 4 per kg over the last 30 days. Nickel, another key input however had stabilised at $14,000-$14,500 per tonne.

The price increase could be initiated early or mid-April. Jindal's price increase could be indicative for the industry as the company had a 45 per cent market share in the country.

Parakh said, there was also strong demand for stainless steel both in India and in the international markets. Jindal Stainless was expecting exports to pick up further.

Around 80 per cent of the company's exports went to China. China's demand for steel was around 320 million tonne out of which stainless steel accounted for only five million tonne.

Parakh said, China produced around two million tonne of stainless steel and new capacity was expected to be onstream only over the next two years.

The company was in the process of diversifying its export basket. Parakh said, Jindal Stainless had recently set up subsidiaries in Italy, London and Dubai.

Back home, the company was bullish on the architectural and automotive sectors to account for much of the demand for the product. Parakh said, the company was confident that the automotive sector would clock in a double digit growth over the next five years.

With the upgradation of airports and announcement of new steel railways coaches would help boost demand for stainless steel. In tandem, Jindal Stainless was expanding capacity, which would stand at seven lakh tonne by March 2006.

The company has received approvals for hiving off the lifestyle and architecture divisions. Parakh said, the company had received all necessary approvals from the stock exchanges and would now apply to the court for the same.