Steel cos cut prices by 7-8%

Barely 24 hours after public sector behemoth SAIL cut its prices by Rs 500 to Rs 2000, domestic steel majors Essar Steel and Ispat Industries on Friday announced cut in their prices by seven to eight per cent due to rising inventories owing to reduced global intake.

"Essar Steel has revised prices for its products in the domestic markets. The prices will be lower by approximately five to eight per cent and will come into force with immediate effect," a Essar Steel spokesman said.

He said with the import duty now at five per cent, domestic steel prices are in line with international rates. Therefore, any decrease or increase in prices are due to the international prices, he pointed out.

Ispat Industries also announced lowering of its steel prices by seven per cent, again due to rising inventories, company sources said.

Last evening, Steel Authority of India Limited cut prices by Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 per tonne terming it a "temporary correction" owing to market fluctuations triggered partially by China's low intake of steel.

The cut, to be effective from Friday, was necessitated by the present demand and supply situation, besides lowering of global steel prices, a SAIL spokesman had said.

However, the public sector behemoth is hopeful that within a month or two, global steel prices would stabilise and the market would again rejuvenate to allow prices to rise.

Tata Steel cuts prices

Following suit of other steel companies, Tata Steel has cut the prices for its branded products by Rs 2,000-3,000 per tonne but has not effected any change in the long term contract prices.

"The prices for branded steel products have been cut by Rs 2,000-3,000. However, there is no change in long-term contract prices," the company said.

Its branded products include Tata Tiscon, Steelium, Wiron, Agrico and Pipes. Tata Steel has about Rs 3,362 crore (Rs 33.62 billion) revenues from branded business which constitute about 29 per cent of the domestic sales of the company.