Business Standard reported that the prices of steel making raw materials have declined 25% globally since January this year on sluggish demand from China, the world’s largest steel producer.

As per report “While coking coal fell to USD 98 to USD 100 a tonne on Thursday from USD 132 to USD 134 a tonne on January 1st, iron ore softened by 17% to trade at USD 113.5 a tonne on Friday from USD 137.5 a tonne at the beginning of the year.”

In contrast, however, iron ore prices in India have moved marginally upwards. India’s largest public sector miner, NMDC, raised fines by INR 100 to INR 2,910 a tonne. The company, however, kept the benchmark high grade lumps unchanged at INR 4,500 a tonne.

Global markets determine the price movement of coking coal in India due to the country’s huge reliance on imports. Hence, the prices of coking coal moved in India in tandem with those in global markets.

Mr Ganesan Natarajan, director, Ennore Coke, one of India’s largest coke producers, said that “It is not necessary that prices of raw materials move in Indian in sync with global markets. The local demand-supply situation determines their price movement irrespective of the global scenario. But, it would be unfair to say that the global price movement does not influence local prices.”

Interestingly, the absence of Chinese players from active buying has hit global steel and raw material markets badly. According to the China Iron and Steel Association, an industry body in China, steel prices in China fell to an 8 year low in March this year due to rising output.