Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is planning hike its product prices by Rs 1,000-1,500 per tonne from next month. The public sector unit had gradually increased its product prices over the last nine months. But, now it is planning to raise prices by 4-5 per cent at one go in January. VSP produces about 3 million tonne finished steel a year.
A senior company official said the domestic market had shown signs of strong recovery with prices firming up in long as well as flat products. Main producers like SAIL, Tata, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited and private producers like JSW, JSPL and Essar were contemplating a hike in steel product prices.
Besides, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) had gone up to 10.8 per cent and the gross domestic product was growing at 8.75 per cent, he said, adding there was encouraging growth in construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors. All this would lead to an increase in the prices of steel product.
Prices of main raw material like iron ore and coking coal too increased significantly over the last few months. Coking coal prices went up from an average $129 per tonne in 2009-10 to $215 per tonne in 2010-11. It is currently trading at $ 245 per tonne in the spot market.
During the last couple of days, prices of pencil ingot rose in the international market and scrap increased by $ 40-45 per tonne, he said.
