April 19: Heavy discounts offered by the producers pushed down prices of most steel items, including billets, wire rods, hot and cold rolled coils in March in Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai, while in Mumbai prices remained static. Prices of galvanised processed (GP) sheets in Calcutta, however, rose sharply in mid-March, according to the monthly bulletin on Iron & Steel published by the Office of the Development Commissioner of Iron & Steel.Prices of billets, used by re-rolling mills, in Calcutta in the second week of March was the lowest at Rs 9,800 per tonne in the last quarter of fiscal 1997-1998. The price, however, rose again in the last week to Rs 10,500 as against Rs 10,400 during the first week of January this year.
In Delhi, the prices of billets fell to Rs 13,500 per tonne in last two weeks of the month, which was the lowest in three months of 1998. In Chennai and Mumbai, the prices remained static at Rs 11,200 since the last week of February as against the earlier low of Rs 11,500 during thelast three months of 1997-1998.
The prices of 6mm wire rod, mostly used in the construction industry, fell to Rs 13,850 per tonne in the third week and to Rs 13,600 in the last week of March in Calcutta, the lowest during the last quarter of 1997-1998. The earlier lowest was Rs 13,900 in the first three weeks in Februay, while the highest price was at Rs 15,000 in the second week of January.
In Delhi too, its prices fell from Rs 16,700 in the first week of January to the lowest at Rs 15,300 in the last week of March. In Chennai, it remained static at Rs 15,800 for last five weeks of 1997-1998. Except for the last two weeks in February and first week of March, when the prices of 6mm wire rod fell to Rs 14,800, its prices remained static during the last quarter in Mumbai.
The prices of 2mm hot rolled (HR) coil in Calcutta, which was highest at Rs 17,750 in the last week of January fell to Rs 17,350 in the second week of March and then showed marginal recovery in next two weeks at Rs 17,400. In Delhi, itfell sharply from Rs 17,200 in the first week of March to Rs 16,300 and again stabilised at Rs 17,000 during the last two weeks.
In Chennai, it remained static at Rs 18,300 throughout March, while in Mumbai it increased to Rs 18,800 in the second week of March, the highest in last three months, and remained static till the end of the month.
The prices of cold rolled coil in Calcutta slumped to the quarter's lowest at Rs 19,500 after remaining static at Rs 19,700 during the first three weeks. Its price was highest at Rs 20,500 during the first two weeks of February. In Delhi, the price increased marginally to Rs 21,700 in last two weeks of March and in Chennai it fell by Rs 500 in the last week of the month, while it remained static at Rs 23,000 through out the quarter in Mumbai.y
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
