Steel firms to hold prices, want check on input costs

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Steel companies have agreed to hold prices at current levels, steel secretary Pramod Rastogi said after a self-imposed three-month freeze on rates expired on Thursday.

“The steel industry has told me that it will not increase the prices for the time being,”steel secretary PK Rastogi said at the second India Steel Summit here.

Steel producers, however, called for raw material security and government intervention to check rising input costs. The steel industry has been holding the prices since May 7 in a bid rein in double-digit inflation, which has galloped to 12.01 % for the week ending July 26.

“We will not raise retail prices of steel in the foreseeable future. We do not want the government to suffer because of high steel prices, but any rate hike will depend on the headline inflation since steel is said to be contributing 2% to inflation,”said JSW Steel vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal.

He, however, declined to give a timeline to hold prices. The secretary said the government’s concern is to keep steel prices under control, and if prices do rise measures can be taken. Acknowledging the steel industry’s concern about the spike in input costs on account of increase in iron-ore and coking coal prices, the secretary said a meeting of domestic iron-ore miners and steel producers would be convened soon to sort out the issues.

“I met the secretary of mines yesterday. He has agreed on certain issues and showed interest to meet you (steel producers),”Rastogi said. In the proposed meeting, the government is likely to persuade iron-ore miners to sell the raw material at reasonable rates to the steel industry, besides entering into long-term contracts with them for supply of the ore.