 "Strong demand makes JSW Steel hike prices of products by 2%")
New Delhi: JSW Steel has increased prices by about 2 percent or about Rs 750 per tonne across all categories for the current month. “We have increased the prices after three months. This is about 2 per cent on all the categories and has become necessary due to increasing input costs,” a senior JSW Steel official told PTI.
Before the price hike, JSW was selling hot-rolled coils (HR-coils) at about Rs 40,500 per tonne and long products like TMT bars at Rs 41,000 per tonne. “We are buying low and inferior quality of iron ore at higher prices due to suspension of mining in Karnataka, Goa and Odisha. Then freight costs have also increased following the hike in diesel prices in September. All of this was impacting margins,” the JSW official said.
[caption id=“attachment_577553” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The price hike is also a reflection of the buoyancy in the domestic demand. Reuters[/caption]
The Sajjan Jindal-led company, which has a 10 million tonnes steel plant in Karnataka’s Vijayanagar, has been struggling to maintain its production at optimum levels for more than a year now due to iron ore shortages. The company is currently running its units at nearly 70 percent levels.
Last month, other producers, including Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd had increased prices by about Rs 500 per tonne. Industry sources said that other major steel producers may also go for price increase for the current month to align it with landed import costs as the international prices have been rising.
The steel producers are also not enthused with NMDC’s decision to cut the iron ore prices by about 5.9 percent for January as they feel that it is still “too high”, they said. JSW’s move to hike Hot-Rolled Coil (HRC) price, considered as the benchmark flat product, is likely to impact the end-use segments like automobiles and consumer durables.
The price hike is also a reflection of the buoyancy in the domestic demand and an attempt by the producers to pass on the inflated price of raw materials to consumers, they further said.
PTI
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