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SAIL, the country’s largest steel maker, has hiked the prices of both flat and long steel products by Rs 500-700 a tonne last week.
The hike in prices is mainly to cover the rising production costs, said Chairman C.S.Verma.
“The demand is slightly picking up,” Verma said, adding there were signs of revival in the market. However, the expected slowdown in the Government spending in the months ahead of the general elections could be a limiting factor, Verma added.
The SAIL scrip ended 1.84 per cent higher at Rs 72 on the BSE on Monday.
Sales up 6% SAIL saw its sales increase by six per cent to 2.98 million tonnes in the October-December quarter over the corresponding period last year.
The sales were up 14 per cent during December at 1.13 million tonnes.
SAIL had increased the prices across category by Rs 1,000-1,200 a tonne during the October-December quarter.
The company has witnessed a pick up in production and output was up 4 per cent during the December quarter.
With the improving off-take, the steel maker has not only been able to sell whatever it has produced, but also trim its inventories.
“Our inventory is now hovering at an optimum level of 0.8 million tonnes against 1.2 million tonnes at the beginning of the year,” he said.
Other majors SAIL is the latest player to join the league of other steel makers such as JSW Steel and Jindal Steel and Power in increasing their product prices recently.
Tata Steel, another large player, is also reportedly considering increasing its prices during the January-March quarter.
The rise in prices augurs well for steel makers at a time when consumption is seen inching up and exports are gaining momentum.
In the April-December period, total steel consumption grew 0.5 per cent to 53.78 million tonnes against the corresponding last year’s 53.5 mt, according to the Joint Plant Committee in the Ministry of Steel.
Total exports for the period were up 9.5 per cent at 4.13 mt against the corresponding last year’s 3.7 mt.
> vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in
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