Steel price movement is driven by sentiments: Tata Steel

Hemant Nerurkar, MD, Tata Steel sharing his views on the steel sector and the price trends said that globally, nearly 70% of the prices in the steel industry depend on the raw materials.

The floods in October-November impacted the coal prices leading to spike in the steel prices. He expects the steel prices to come down as and when the coal prices or iron ore reduce. Also Read: Tata Steel gets USD 130m in TCP arbitration settlement On the demand side, he said that there are some minor slow down in some sectors. This immediately affects the sentiments to that extent and also there were hardly any imports. "So, that is not an issue so far as India is concerned right now. Our price have gone slightly here and there due to the sentiments rather than any other thing," he added. According to brokerage firm IDFC Securities, domestic steel prices are unlikely to go up in the coming days due to a possible correction in raw material costs and slower growth in industrial production. Coking coal is currently hovering at USD 310 per tonne and the contract prices for iron ore, in the current quarter, averaged at USD 178 a tonne. Meanwhile, Tata Steel is also planning to increase its auto steel sales by 20% to 1.2 million tonnes by end-this fiscal as the Indian automobile industry is growing at a fast pace. Also watch the accompanying video.