Mild steel bar prices fall by Rs 12,000 per tonne

[Naveed Yaseen]

RIZWAN BHATTI
KARACHI (December 06 2008): The prices of mild steel bar slid by around Rs 12,000 per tonne in the wake of decreasing prices of the raw material in the international markets, traders said. They said Pakistan Steel had announced last week that a huge cut in the prices of billet - basic raw material of mild steel bar, is expected.

Now the PS has slashed the price of billet by Rs 14,000 per tonne to around Rs 35,000 per tonne in the local market (excluding sales tax), a move aimed at rationalising prices in line with international market. Following the PS decision, the re-rolling mills have also reduced the price of mild steel bar from Rs 10,000 to 12,000 per tonne in the local market, traders said.

The mills, traders said, had reduced per tonne price of the scrap milled steel bar to Rs 48,000-50,000 in the domestic market from Rs 58,000-60,000 per tonne, marking a decrease of Rs 10,000. The price of per tonne billet milled steel, after witnessing a decrease of Rs 12,000, has slid to Rs 52,000-50,000 against the previous Rs 62,000-64,000, they said.

"Decrease in billet price by the country's largest steel producer has compelled the re-rolling mills to reduce the price of mild steel bar," a leading trader in Moin Steel Market said. He said that presently the prices of billet, which are declining in the international market, stand at 350-400 dollars per tonne in the world market.

The price increase in mild steel bar, which touched a peak level of Rs 84,000 per tonne, had badly hurt the construction industry, he added. "After the current decline it is expected that the sale of mild steel bar would pick up after Eid holidays," said the trader. He said if the prices of raw materiel went further down, the prices of mild steel would automatically fall.

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