Rashtriya Ispat hikes price up to Rs 545 a tonne

Steel PSU Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) hiked prices of its products by up to Rs 545 a tonne earlier this month, Minister of State for Steel A Sai Prathap informed Parliament today.

"Based on commercial considerations, RINL has increased the prices ranging from Rs 90-545 per tonne with effect from April 1, 2010, of different grades of saleable steel of which some are supplied to forging industries," the minister informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The state-owned firm had therefore joined its peers in the industry like SAIL and Tata Steel, which increased steel prices by up to Rs 3,000 a tonne citing higher input costs, he said. The minister allayed fears that the hike in prices will result in the forging industry "falling sick".

"RINL is contributing only 3 million tonnes out of the total steel production of 59.58 million tonnes per annum of the country. There are no reasons for the forging steel industries to fall sick due to a marginal price increase by RINL," he added.

The forging industry makes products which are mainly consumed by the automobile industry.