R Krishna Das
If the increasing steel prices are any indication, the domestic demand and international price of the commodity had reached a near-pre-Covid level.
Steel companies have increased prices by about Rs 2,000 a tonne in the last 10 days backed by an increase in domestic demand and international prices that literally taking it to near-pre-Covid levels.
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Chairman Aditya Mittal said the Indian steel market had started showing signs of recovery after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, He said that the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted domestic demand, in particular during the month of April; however, there is a recovery visible in the market.
“We are seeing the domestic market recover and that’s a reason why our operations are running at full capacity (at Hazira in Gujarat),” he told a news agency.
Sources in the steel industry said that there had been two rounds of increase since July end. The steel prices have increased by about Rs 2,000 a tonne. In the last two weeks, pellet and iron ore prices have increased by about $10 a tonne and scrap prices by $25-$30 a tonne, sources added.
Prices in the domestic market are increasing because there is a demand pull and internationally prices have gone up. Covid-19 outbreak led to a fall in steel demand in domestic market resulting in major steel players to look to the export markets to sell their products as demand was low domestically.
In an update on the sector, the Ministry of Steel has also said that the domestic steel industry has started showing signs of improvement in the month of June, after hitting the nadir in April 2020 due to spread of COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
In June, the country’s crude steel production stood at 6.8 million tonnes, 17.7 percent higher over May 2020 and over 100 percent rise over April 2020, according to ministry data.
