Steel prices may rise in February

Steel consumption in India is growing on a monthly basis and steel prices are expected to stabilize, Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director of JSW Steel, said.

HRC (hot rolled coil) steel prices in India hit an all-time high of Rs 70,875 last November. However, due to price pressure and destocking in the trading market, prices fell globally, with steel prices falling to Rs 67,000 per tonne in India in January. “Whatever price correction happens in China and Asia, I don't expect the same to happen in India. And prices will definitely not fall to the previous (2019-2020) levels,” Rao said.

“While consumption is not as strong as last year, we see December consumption levels at around 9.29 million tonnes, the highest since April 2021,” Rao added.

JSW Steel has committed about Rs 18,300 crores of capital investment for fiscal year 2022 and has spent about Rs 10,000 crores in the past nine months.

“...Rs 8,000 crores will not be spent in one quarter. I expect about 15,000 crores capital investment for the entire FY22. In the next financial year, the capital investment will be in the same range of Rs 15,000-18,000 crore," Rao said.

Rao expects prices to rise in the coming months and said there is room for price increases even in February. “We are already seeing rising steel prices around the world. This is primarily due to rising costs, and therefore we may see some price increases in the current quarter,” he said.