Steel wire prices down 20%

Steel wire prices have dropped by 20 per cent in last weeks on account of lower demand, said B L Jajodia, the newly elected chairman of Steel Wire Manufacturers Association of India (SWMAI).

Prices at Rs 55,000-60,000 a ton, a month and a half back were now at Rs 45,000-50,000 a ton.

The export duty had further aggravated the situation.

Exports last year had dropped to 73,000 tons from 0.3 million tons in the previous year.

This year, exports were likely to be around one million ton.

Addressing the annual general meeting, Jajodia urged the government that the export duty on steel wire should be abolished with immediate effect to enable the wire industry to be globally competitive.

 

He also demanded that the customs duty on raw material for the industry, i.e. wire rods, should continue to be zero per cent to enable the steel wire industry to get raw materials at the globally competitive rates for making value addition on it and cater to the domestic and international market demands for steel wires.

Jajodia added that the recession in the steel industry forced secondary steel producers to reduce their prices but the main producers had not yet responded to that trend and price of mild steel and high carbon wire rods offered by the two main producers—Tata Steel and RINL—were at the peak level as it was before the crunch.