Uncertainty in steel prices irks bizmen

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 26

Soon after the formation of the new government at the Centre, the SMS mafia has again become active, creating panic among industrialists. For the last five years, the mafia has been allegedly ruining their businesses by manipulating the steel prices and arbitrarily lowering and raising the rates.

Steel companies fought a long legal battle against the SMS mafia, but they did not get any major success.

Raising concern over the development, All Industries Trade Forum (AITF) has written to authorities concerned to intervene and keep a check on the sudden fluctuating prices of steel.

Badish Jindal, president, AITF, said the SMS mafia determines the steel prices in the country in an unauthorised manner. The mafia alters the prices 4-5 times daily and sends the prices determined by it through over one million WhatsApp platforms in the country. Behind this price rise and fall are traders who deal in lakhs of tonnes of scrap and steel, who order the SMS mafia to raise and lower the prices according to their situation. Due to such a large number of SMSes being sent, the industries consider the prices sent by them as the basis.

Jindal added that the mafia has lowered the prices of steel by Rs 4,000 per tonne in 20 days. On June 4, the price of steel ingot was Rs 47,500 per tonne, which was lowered to Rs 43,500 per tonne on June 25. There is no basis for this fall because there has been no major reduction in the prices of foreign scrap but the prices of scrap coming from the industries here have been lowered. Similarly, this SMS mafia had increased the price of steel ingot from Rs 42,000 to Rs 48,000 tonne in April and May, due to which the steel mafia made profits of billions of rupees and when this mafia sold all their stocks, the steel prices were reduced.

According to information received from sources, now these big speculators are again accumulating stock at low prices and the SMS Mafia will keep the prices low till they collect a large stock and as soon as sufficient amount of stock is collected, this mafia will again increase the prices heavily in the coming days. Due to this fraud of theirs, steel furnaces making iron from scrap have started getting closed, said the AITF president.

Prices lowered by Rs 4K/tonne in 20 days

The SMS mafia alters steel prices in the country in an unauthorised manner. It has lowered the prices by Rs 4,000 per tonne in 20 days. On June 4, the price of steel ingot was Rs 47,500 per tonne, which was lowered to Rs 43,500 per tonne on June 25. — Badish Jindal, president, AITF

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