Prices of long product of steel have softened by around Rs 3,000 per tonne as buyers refrained from making fresh purchases in anticipation of government measures to check prices. | |
| TMT bar prices, which were hovering around Rs 47,000 per tonne at the beginning of April, were now being quoted at Rs 44,000 per tonne. Of the total production of 57 million tonnes of steel, long products accounted for 32 million tonnes. |
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| SPS Steel Chairman and Managing Director Bipin Vohra said buying had stopped completely. "There are more than 20 days' stocks with each of the companies. Prices of TMT bars were at Rs 47,000 per tonne last week and are now at Rs 44,000 per tonne," he said. |
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| Vohra said the situation has come to this point as buyers were awaiting clear signals from the government on policy measures. SPS manufactures around 40,000 tonnes of TMT bars and is the second largest player in the eastern region at the retail level. |
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| Industry sources said that unlike flat products which were manufactured by few producers, the manufacture of long products was mostly controlled by secondary producers. |
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| A major producer confirmed that there was no buying in long products but prices remained at the same level. |
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| "Secondary producers were selling at Rs 3,000-4,000 per tonne higher than primary producers, which has now been brought down to the same level," said a primary producer. In the long products segment, primary producers account for 18-20 per cent of the production. |
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| Secondary producers raised prices around four times last month on account of higher raw material prices. TMT bar prices were around Rs 30,000 per tonne in January 2008. |
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| However, at the behest of the steel ministry some of the major producers had to roll back TMT prices by Rs 2,000 per tonne at the beginning of the month. |
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