TATA STEEL CUTS PRICES BY UP TO US$32 A TONNE; FOLLOWS PEERS

India's Tata Steel (BSE:500470), on Thursday said it has cut prices of its products by about Rs 1,500 (US$32) a tonne in tune with falling global rates.

With the reduction, Tata Steel joins leading steel makers SAIL, JSW Steel, Essar, Ispat Industries, all of them yesterday cut prices of flat steel products by up to Rs 1,500.

"We have cut prices of our flat steel products. It is in the same range as other steel makers have done," Tata Steel Managing Director H M Nerurkar told reporters on the sidelines of CII steel summit here.

"We have cut prices by 4 per cent of our flat steel products in select and spot markets and is effective from November 1," said a spokesperson of the company. The company's flat steel products were in the range of Rs 30,000-40,000 a tonne. A four per cent cut implies prices would be down by roughly Rs 1,200-1,500 a tonne.

Flat products are mainly used by automobile and white goods firms. The steel firms, however, have not reduced prices of long products used mainly by infrastructure companies.

The cut in prices follows global rates falling by USD 50-USD 60 per tonne to about USD 500 in the recent past mainly due to over capacity in Chinese steel mills.

Meanwhile, SAIL on Thursday said it has reduced the prices by 750-1,500 per tonne and maintained that the prices are likely to remain stable in the coming few months.

"Prices are likely to remain stable," SAIL Chairman S K Roongta said.

(PTI)lm

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