MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Indian steel companies appear set to increase prices next month as raw material contracts push up costs.

Tata Steel, SAIL and JSW Steel will hike prices next month. All the companies are waiting for the financial year to end and in April all of them will announce the new rates.

Companies are watching the international pricing scenario. They will revisit their pricing structure next month. Cost pressures are very strong at the moment.

There has been a 55% rise in coking coal prices over the last few months. Recently, BHP Billiton, the world’s largest coking coal exporter, won a 55% price increase from Japan-based JFE Holdings steel unit in the first three-month contract ever signed for coking coal.

The contract was fixed at $200 a tonne for three months, up from the annual contract of $129. JSW, India’s No. 3 steelmaker, expects to sign coking coal contracts with miners around $200 a tonne, an increase of about 55%, April onwards, but is negotiating for annual contracts instead of quarterly ones.

JSW will source 5 million tonnes of coking coal, mainly from Australia. JSW, which currently imports all its coking coal requirements, wants to raise its dependence on internal sources of coking coal to 50%. JSW Steel has been on a lookout for mines overseas but has not been able to sign a deal due to limited reserves.

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