Steel prices in Punjab up by Rs 500-600 per tonne

CHANDIGARH: Reports of major steel companies planning to raise HR coil prices has fuelled steel prices in Punjab by Rs 500-600 per metric tonne in the last two days.

According to steel manufacturers, the price of steel ingot, an input for steel re-rollers, has gone up by Rs 500 per tonne to Rs 25,300 per MT from Rs 24800 per MT. With the increase in prices of steel ingot, the prices of rolled products such as channels, flat iron etc have also risen by Rs 500-600 per tonne.

"The prices in Punjab have moved up because of the news gaining momentum that the steel companies are raising HR coil prices," said All India Steel Re-rollers Association President Vinod Vashisht.

Another factor which has pumped up steel prices was the consistent increase in sponge iron prices, a raw material for steel producers.

"We have observed that during last one month, the price of sponge iron has jumped by Rs 1,500 per tonne to Rs 16,200 per tonne because of increased demand," said a Mandi Gobindgarh-based steel manufacturer.

Just twenty days back, steel prices were raised by Rs 500 per tonne due to scarcity of raw material, steel expert added.

The increase in steel prices in the state has hit light engineering industries hard which are already facing difficulties due to high production cost.

The end user of steel, these industries were quite upset over the regular increase in prices of steel.

"It has become very difficult to neutralise the impact of any hike in raw material as steel constitutes a major portion of our total cost of production," said a bicycle manufacturer.