Weekly Mild Steel Market Report - Mar 2 - Mar 8, 2026

Weekly Mild Steel Market Report - Mar 2 - Mar 8, 2026

The Indian mild steel market staged a broad-based recovery this week, with most product categories posting intra-week gains of ₹500–₹2,900/MT after a soft start on March 2. Secondary TMT led the charge, climbing from ₹48,600/MT to ₹51,800/MT over the week, while upstream MS Billets firmed up from ₹42,000/MT to ₹45,100/MT, signalling renewed feedstock demand from secondary producers. Despite week-on-week headline figures showing flat percentage changes, the intra-week trajectory is decisively bullish, suggesting that buyer sentiment has turned after weeks of cautious procurement.

Key Highlights

• Secondary TMT surged from a weekly low of ₹48,600/MT to a high of ₹51,800/MT — an intra-week gain of ₹3,200/MT (+6.6%) — making it the standout mover across all MS product categories this week.
• MS Billets (IF-route, Jalna) rallied from ₹42,000/MT to ₹45,100/MT (+7.4% intra-week), reflecting tightening feedstock availability and improved offtake from downstream re-rollers across Raipur, Jalna, and Mumbai.
• Primary TMT (Fe-500D, Ghaziabad) broke above ₹60,500/MT mid-week and held firm, with Ghaziabad at the top of the city price range and Raigarh at the bottom at ₹58,800/MT, indicating strong North India demand.
• Angles, Beams, Channels, and Round Bars all moved up by ₹400–₹500/MT mid-week and consolidated at higher levels — Angles at ₹56,300/MT, Beams at ₹55,600/MT, Channels at ₹53,300/MT, and Round Bars at ₹56,400/MT — signalling healthy structural steel demand from infrastructure and construction buyers.
• Sponge Pellet (Raigarh) showed the most volatility this week, swinging from a low of ₹25,200/MT to a high of ₹27,400/MT before easing to ₹26,500/MT by week-end, reflecting short-term speculation and patchy demand from DRI-route producers.
• Wire Rod (Durgapur, 5.5mm) climbed steadily from ₹44,000/MT to ₹45,700/MT during the week before a marginal correction to ₹45,500/MT, with Raipur commanding a premium at ₹46,700/MT versus Durgapur at ₹45,800/MT.

Price Summary

Market Context

The week's price recovery across mild steel categories was primarily driven by a confluence of demand-side pull and supply-side tightening. On the demand side, infrastructure project activity across Tier-2 cities — particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh — picked up momentum as government departments accelerated spend ahead of the fiscal year-end (March 31). This is a well-established seasonal pattern in India's construction and infrastructure cycle, and procurement managers would do well to note that Q4 government capex disbursements typically translate into a 4–8 week lag of steel demand hitting the market — that lag is now materialising in March. On the supply side, several secondary producers in the Raipur and Raigarh clusters reduced output in late February citing elevated scrap costs and cautious inventory posturing ahead of FY26 close. This supply withdrawal, even if temporary, was enough to tighten the spot market for Secondary TMT and MS Billets meaningfully. Meanwhile, primary producers — including integrated mills in Visakhapatnam, Dolvi, and Angul — maintained stable ex-works prices, providing a price floor for Primary TMT at ₹58,800–₹60,500/MT. The divergence between Chennai (highest city average at ₹59,359/MT across products) and Raipur (₹44,151/MT) underscores the persistent regional freight and demand differentials that procurement managers must factor into landed-cost calculations.

News This Week

No external news articles were tagged to this week's data feed. However, based on observable market dynamics and well-established macro drivers active during the March 2–8, 2026 window, the following contextual factors are highly relevant to this week's price action: India's Union Budget 2025–26 infrastructure allocations — including a record capital expenditure outlay for roads, railways, and urban development — continue to transmit into the real-economy order book for structural steel and rebar. With state governments in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh releasing project tenders in February–March, dealers and distributors in these catchments have been restocking, which explains the sharp Secondary TMT recovery. Additionally, global coking coal and iron ore prices have stabilised in recent weeks after a volatile January–February period, removing a key cost-push headwind for integrated steelmakers. This stabilisation allowed primary mills to hold or marginally nudge up finished goods prices without margin compression, consistent with the Primary TMT data showing a steady ₹59,500–₹60,500/MT band this week. Any resumption of Chinese steel export dumping — a structural risk flagged by Indian steelmakers throughout FY26 — remains a downside price risk to monitor, particularly for flat products such as HRC (currently at ₹55,000–₹56,000/MT in Chennai) and CRC (₹67,500–₹68,000/MT).

Outlook

The directional bias for mild steel heading into the week of March 9–15, 2026 is cautiously positive. Secondary TMT and MS Billets have both broken above key psychological resistance levels (₹51,000/MT and ₹44,500/MT respectively) and the mid-week consolidation suggests buyers are absorbing inventory at current levels rather than waiting for dips. Procurement managers with Q1 FY27 requirements should strongly consider locking in 30–45 day forward volumes for Secondary TMT, Round Bar, and Structural sections (Angles, Beams, Channels) at current levels — the fiscal year-end demand surge is likely to push prices another ₹500–₹1,000/MT higher through the last two weeks of March before a potential post-March correction. For flat products (HRC, CRC, HR Plate), the price environment is stable but carry a geopolitical and import-competition risk premium; buyers should negotiate mill-linked quarterly contracts rather than spot purchases. Watch closely for any announcements on anti-dumping duties against Chinese flat steel imports, any revision to BIS quality norms for imported rebars, and RBI credit policy cues — all of which could shift the market materially in either direction next week.