Local Indian rebar prices have showed marginal changes amid scarce trading conditions, the ongoing very negative mood, and with market participants foreseeing further losses ahead, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Tuesday, August 6.
Indian rebar trade prices are down a marginal INR 100/mt ($1.19/mt) to INR 44,300/mt ($529/mt) ex-Mumbai, while they have been stable at INR 47,500/mt ($568/mt) ex-Chennai in the south.
Rebar trade prices are also stable at INR 41,700/mt ($498/mt) ex-Raipur, but are down INR 500/mt ($6/mt) to INR 41,500/mt ($496/mt) ex-Durgapur in the east.
According to the sources, the pace of the downtrend of prices has eased over the past week, largely because induction furnace operators have paused their price declines, while trade channels have also temporarily halted discounted sales.
The sources said that the shaky stability on the price front was not to be seen as an imminent turnaround of the prolonged downtrend seen over past several weeks. In fact, sources pointed out that both traders and mills are taking a pause from cutting prices as the lower prices were having no effect in driving volumes in the market, as the fundamental problem was weak end-user demand.
“It is only a matter of time before the market will enter a new free-fall. There is just too much volume chasing negligible demand. There is disappointment over the lack of a government stimulus and therefore large projects are either being slowed down or deferred. On the retail sales front, small and medium-scale users have little confidence in restocking,” a Kolkata-based distributor said.
$1 = INR 83.70