Indian steel manufacturers are not considering any price rise even as domestic demand has revived, making up for slump in the overseas markets, which may see a decline in exports by half in 2009-10 compared to the previous year.
"Price increase is not even under consideration at the moment. We would like to sell more volumes at lower prices. Globally prices are low, input (price) pressure has come down.
So, prices will remain almost flat this fiscal," JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and MD Sajjan Jindal said in New Delhi on Tuesday. Commodity prices, including steel and its vital inputs like iron ore and coking coal have crashed by about 70 per cent in the last one year.
After a slump in the October-December 2008 quarter, there was a spurt in the offtake in the past three months, supported by infrastructure as well as automobile sectors.
"January-March quarter was good for the domestic steel industry as demand was robust," Jindal said.
However, whether the demand is sustainable in the new fiscal remains to be seen, he said, adding 12-13 per cent interest rates make infrastructure projects unviable and it should come down to a single digit soon.
He said exports are expected to fall this fiscal to half its size in 2008-09. "Steel exports will come down to five per cent of total production in view of slump in demand in the west and parallel improvement in domestic demand," he said.
Source: NDTV
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