Jindal Steel's product price rise for December not to hurt sales

Though Jindal Steel and Power Ltd may be the only steel company that has marginally raised its product prices for December, the company does not see its decision affecting its sales.

“The kind of steel products where we have raised prices, have no competition or have very little competition,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Uppal of Jindal Steel told Business Standard today. “So the move should not really drive out customers, we have taken into consideration all this before we decided to raise prices,” he said.

In the quarter ended September, Jindal Steel’s sales increased in volume by 16% on a standalone basis. The company's exports in the period under review also rose by 32% year-on-year. However, the company's earnings were affected due to 12-15 percent fall in steel prices apart from the interest and depreciation burden of investments

Rise in production cost of steel has prompted the Delhi-based steel producer to up prices for December, he said.

“We have our exports and domestic sales as well and have considered cost level and what cost increase can be passed to customers on before we made this decision,” Uppal explained.

Companies such as Steel Authority of India Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, Essar Steel Ltd and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, citing subdued demand for the alloy in the domestic market, have left product prices unchanged for December. Calls to Tata Steel Ltd, however, went unanswered.

“In some products our prices could be higher than peers in others it could be lower but our price revision is driven depending on our own requirement not in comparison with peers,” Uppal said.

Since the past two-three months, domestic steel companies have been continuously raising product prices on the back of depreciating rupee. “The current market conditions are such that it is not possible to pass the cost to the customers at present,”said a source from Essar Steel.

“Internationally steel prices are moving up in the US and Europe,” said Jayant Acharya, Director - commercial and marketing. “But we are still reviewing the situation and mostly take a decision in January. We do not plan to hike (steel product) prices this month (December),” he said.