Steel bar prices swell by 30pc in 7MFY23

Amid a declining trend in the world’s iron and steel scrap market, consumers continued to face multiple price shocks in steel bar prices in the first seven months of the current fiscal year due to massive rupee devaluation. Manufacturers raised steel bar prices by 30 per cent from July 1, 2022 to Jan 31, as a result of a 35pc rupee devaluation which had increased the landed cost of imported items thus offsetting the benefit of the falling trend on world markets. On July 1, 2022, one US dollar was trading at Rs204 versus Rs275 on January 31 in the interbank. Seven months back, the good quality steel bar price was Rs236,000 per tonne compared to the current Rs306,000 per tonne including the impact of a 1pc hike in general sales tax. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed that the average per tonne price of iron and steel scrap in January fell to $499 from $525 in December 2022, while in January 2022 the APT was $623.