Business Standard reported that poor demand f of long steel products in India, coupled with input material supply problems have hit the steel ingot and billet makers in the secondary sector quite hard with many regulating production.

Mr Rajendra Sachdeva owner of Ghaziabad based ingot maker Shivam Steel said that “The reason for the price fall is simple. There is no demand for finished products in the market and it is affecting billet prices. In the past month, we had to reduce prices by INR 1,000 per tonne to INR 1,500 per tonne.”

Marketing official of a state based billet producer said that “There is no demand for intermediate steel products and industrial production is not encouraging. There is no demand for sponge iron, too, as most steel companies have curbed production.”

He added that buyers have also restricted billet buying due to the current monsoon season, when construction activity normally dissipates.

However, steel industry sources said the price fall in billets was temporary, as the constraints in iron ore availability would not allow producers to reduce prices below a point.

Mr PL Kandoi president of the All Odisha Steel Federation said that “In Odisha, most of the state owned and private mines are shut due to lack of statutory clearances, thereby creating shortage in raw material supply. As a result, intermediate steel producers have cut production.”

Source - Business Standard

(www.steelguru.com)