Indian steel makers may do well to prepare for costlier inputs with global consultancy firm PwC saying that prices of both iron ore and coking coal may go up again next year.

Mr Tim Goldsmith global leader mining of PwC told PTI in an interview that "My view is, you may see next year fairly stable pricing for iron ore and if anything, it may go up. I don't think you may see quite as much raw material as expected, particularly Brazil have challenges and demand is going to grow. So I feel pricing will stay similar to as they are today and if anything, it will have the opportunity to go up.”

Mr Goldsmith said similar is the case for coking coal, a raw material that India's top steel producer and state-owned firm SAIL depends largely on imports for meeting the requirement.

He said that "It is difficult to estimate the price of coking coal, because of the uncertainty of how much coking coal China is going to produce. Even so, I think you can see coking coal has less new production coming on stream next year. So there is a chance of an increase in the coking coal price as well.”

Mr Goldsmith said that "So if you have a steel mill, you should be looking with a little of nervousness, because your cost input will go up... It was really tough for the steel industry to pass the higher input cost on to the customers in last two years.”