New Delhi, May 4 (Agency) Domestic steel makers have hiked the prices of Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) and Cold Rolled Coil (CRC) by Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,500 per tonne, respectively, industry sources said on Tuesday. After the price revision, a tonne of HRC will cost Rs 67,000 while the buyers will get CRC for Rs 80,000 per tonne. The price revisions have been made in the last three days, the sources said. According to the sources, the prices of HRC and CRC could again be increased by Rs 2,000-4,000 per tonne. Another hike is likely in mid-May or early June, they added.
HRC and CRC are flat steel used in consumer-friendly industries such as auto, appliances and construction. The prices of the vehicles and consumer goods are bound to be impacted by the rise in steel prices as steel is a raw material for these sectors, an expert said. When contacted, a SAIL official said ‘it is market driven’ and did not comment further. While JSW Steel declined to comment, AMNS India and JSPL did not reply to a query on the reason for the price hike. Reacting to the price hike, realtors’ apex body CREDAI said since January 2020, there has been a steep hike in the prices of construction raw materials.
Prices of steel are at an all-time high and have nearly doubled since then. As a result of steel price hike alone, construction costs have increased by 3-5 per cent, while the shortage of labour and disrupted supply chain of materials is only making the situation more difficult for the real estate sector, it said. ‘Developers will have no choice but to escalate prices to offset hike in prices of raw material. This will therefore have a cascading effect on the home prices also. The affordable housing segment will be the worst hit as it would be financially unviable for developers to operate such projects which have very low margins,’ CREDAI President Harsh Vardhan Patodia said. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) urges the government to take necessary steps to control the exponential hikes in the prices of construction raw materials, he said.