Builders stop buying costly steel bars for one week

While expressing their strong resentment toward the justification for pushing up prices to unprecedented levels of up to Rs303,500 per tonne, builders and developers have suspended the purchase of steel bars for seven days. Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) Chairman Altaf Tai said no steel bars would be unloaded at the construction sites of the association’s members from Friday. He said the members would review the situation and decide the future course of action next Wednesday. When asked whether builders had lifted the required quantity and then announced the suspension, he said it is impossible to pile up steel bar stocks in bulk quantity by the builders. Manufacturers have persistently been jacking up the rates citing costly scrap on world markets and a shortage of raw materials in the local market. However, the average per tonne price of imported iron and steel scrap during IHFY23 fell to $567 from $581 in the same period last fiscal year based on the import of 1.244m tonnes ($706 million) as compared to 2.116m tonnes ($1.231bn) in IHFY22.