Tata Steel up prices by Rs 2,000, SAIL withdraws discounts

Dampening the Christmas mood, leading steel maker Tata Steel has jacked up prices by Rs 2000 a tonne, while the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has discontinued the discounts with immediate effect, on the back of rising demand.

Others are also mulling similar action, with the country's largest private steel maker by domestic capacity JSW Steel considering a similar action tomorrow.

Tata Steel hiked prices of its long steel products by about Rs 2,000 a tonne. "The hike is from immediate effect. We have not revised our flat steel prices," a spokesperson of the company said.

"We have removed the Rs 750-1,500 per tonne rebate we were offering on both flat and long steel products with immediate effect," SAIL spokesperson said today. The country's largest steel maker started offering discounts to distributors in the wake of demand slump due to the economic downturn to bolster sales.

Significantly, SAIL is also mulling a price hike next month.

JSW Steel Director (Sales & Marketing) Jayant Acharya said the firm is considering to increase price of TMT bars, used by construction firms, by 5-6 per cent from tomorrow. The hike is likely to be of up to Rs 2,000 a tonne.

Long steel products are mainly used by infrastructure and construction sectors while flat ones are used by consumer durables industry.