SAIL sees steel prices firming up in next few months

The country's largest steel-maker, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), sees steel prices firming up on the back of demand from construction and automobile firms and may revise the rates for its products in the next few months.

"Steel prices are firming up. There is an upward pressure on the prices. Demand in August-September is bound to improve, mainly from sectors like automobile and construction," SAIL Chairman C S Verma told PTI.

Any price change by SAIL, which has a domestic market share of about 20 per cent, is generally followed by other producers like JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Essar Steel, among others.

Verma said the price of key steel products like hot-rolled coils (HR-C), which had touched a peak of $615 a tonne in international markets in January, had fallen to about $550 a tonne in July due to a slump in demand amid economic instability in Europe and a slowdown in manufacturing activity in China.

Meanwhile, in reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Steel A Sai Prathap said, "... During July, 2010, the prices of various steel products have come down by 4 per cent to 13 per cent from the prices in March-April, 2010."

Verma added, "HR coil prices have seen some improvement. They are hovering around the $555 a tonne level now."

Asked if SAIL would take a cue from the changes in international prices and increase rates next month, Verma said, "Prices would be determined on the basis of the demand and supply situation."

In the first quarter, Verma said, SAIL sold its products at an average price of Rs 34,000 a tonne as compared to Rs 31,000 a tonne a year-ago.

Earlier this week, Sajjan Jindal, the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSW, the country's largest private sector steel-maker by domestic capacity, had said that prices of the commodity have stabilised and are expected to show some signs of improvement.