【ferro-alloys.com】

  According to reports, the price of local hot rolled coil (HRC) in India is expected to rise again by INR 2000-3000 / T (US $27-40 / T) due to the second benchmark price increase expected by steel mills in April.

  Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities said it expects domestic mills to announce a second round of price increases, with a base price of around $27-40 per ton.

  CARE Ratings said in a report that steel mills will continue to raise benchmark prices in April and raise hot-rolled coil prices to their highest level since 2008.

  Continued growth in demand, tight supply and China's production cuts will continue to push up steel prices, Motilal Oswal said in a report.

  The company said there was still a discount of INR 9000 per ton (US $120 per ton) on domestic hot rolled coil prices compared with imports from outside South Korea, which provided enough space for local producers to continue to raise domestic prices, especially in the face of reduced import competition from outside China due to reduced production by Chinese steel mills.

  According to the report, the new round of rising steel prices will seriously hit the infrastructure and automobile industries, with the construction and real estate industries accounting for 55% - 60% of the total steel consumption, followed by the automobile industry, accounting for 19%.

  It is worth noting that the local comprehensive steel plant raised the domestic hot rolled coil benchmark price by INR 4500-5000 per ton (US $60-67 per ton) last week.

  US $1 = INR 75.10

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]