August 22, 2008

Construction projects in Pakistan hit by rebar price surge

Pakistani media has reported that due to the escalating international steel and raw material prices, construction activities in Pakistan are hampered as Pakistan is dependent on imports to a great extant. As per report, many of the projects have stopped due to the rising steel prices and on the other hand the rising cement prices in the local market are putting additional burden on construction sector.

As per a report in The News, PKR 6,000 per tonne has been raised on billets and PKR 3,000 to PKR 4,000 on galvanized steel during this week. The report cited a Pakistan Steel Mill source as saying that there has been an increase of USD 135 per tonne in the international price of billets and therefore PSM would raise billet prices according to these developments.

The report also quoted Mr Abdul Sattar Bhagani of Abdul Sattar Noor Muhammad Group as saying that the prices of rebars are at PKR 80,000 per tonne level up from PKR 65,000 per tonne last week.