Steel cos raise product prices by 3-8%, but dealers still hurt

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Dhirendra TripathiMoneycontrolMajor steel companies like JSW Steel Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd have all raised their product prices by 3 percent to 8 percent in January because of higher coking coal prices, according to various trade sources. The hike, effected across both flat and long steel products, adds to the price increases undertaken by the companies post Diwali in 2016, one source said.“The hike in some product categories has been as high as 8 percent each in December and January,” another source said.He said the price hikes in long products were less than those in flats and as a result, margins were better in flats right now.  Long product prices have seen a hike of 3-5 percent while flat product prices are up by 5-8 percent in January, the second source said.The flats are being traded for around Rs 41,000 in the market with long products going at a discount of Rs 7,000-Rs. 8,000 to prices of flats. “The flat prices are getting supported by government duties. So their prices are ruling higher than those of longs,” an analyst with a domestic brokerage said.The analyst said coal prices for January-March contracts were ruling at USD 285 per tonne, higher by as much as much USD 85 from the December quarter orders.Another source said steel prices have effectively increased by 40 percent since July last year.The news of the price hikes is a positive development for the struggling sector which has the highest non-performing assets in the industry, a result of cheap imports from China, lack of demand within the country and higher costs of production.Traders said the government’s move to slap anti-dumping duty on cheap imports had had a positive impact but more needed to be done.In the last two years, the government has taken several measures like anti-dumping duty and imposition of minimum import price to curb imports that were hurting the local industry. Imposition of minimum import price meant that steel at value less than the government-set rate could not be imported.On January 14, the government imposed an anti-dumping duty on certain varieties of pre-painted, colour-coated and organic coated flat steels in coils or not in coils.Industry insiders said while steel companies had hiked prices by 3 percent-8 percent, traders and suppliers of the alloys of steel down the line had not been able to pass on as much. They blamed demonetization for it, which have hurt their business.“At best, they have been able to pass on the burden to the extent of only 3 percent to 4 percent,” an official with a maker of steel tubes and pipes said.