Steel Prices Fall in July 2026: What Buyers, Sellers & Exporters Should Know

on
Steel prices fall in July 2026 showing TMT bar prices, imports, exports, production and raw material costs in India.
Steel prices declined in July 2026 even as production, exports and demand continued to rise.
📌 Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ministry of Steel | Date: 6 August 2026

Quick question: If you bought TMT bars a few months ago and are planning another purchase now, you might be wondering whether prices have actually changed.

Most buyers don't track steel prices every month, so it's easy to miss what's changed. But the answer is actually worth knowing, because steel prices have moved quite a bit in the last two months — and depending on whether you're buying steel, selling it, or exporting it, this news hits you very differently.

Here's what the latest numbers really mean. India made more steel in July than the same month last year. People bought more of it too. But steel prices actually went down — not up. That combination — more demand, lower prices — That's unusual, so it's worth understanding why it happened.

Let's start with the number that actually saves or costs you money

TMT bar (the steel rod used in almost every construction project) cost ₹63,053 per tonne in May 2026. By July, it had dropped to ₹56,698 per tonne.

What that means in real terms: that's a drop of ₹6,355 per tonne in just two months. If you're a small builder or fabricator ordering, say, 50 tonnes for a project, that's over ₹3 lakh less than you'd have paid in May — for the exact same material. If you've been sitting on a construction order and wondering whether to lock in your steel purchase now, this is the kind of price movement worth timing.

And it's not just TMT. Hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, and galvanised sheet all softened too, though by smaller amounts. If your business runs on any of these, July was a cheaper month to buy than June.

The bigger picture in one table

What July 2026 Change vs Last Year
🏭 Crude steel made 14.3 Million Tonnes Up 1.2%
📦 Finished steel made 13.7 Million Tonnes Up 1.4%
🛒 Steel actually bought/used 14.4 Million Tonnes Up 6.5%
📉 TMT bar price ₹56,698/tonne Down from ₹63,053 in May
🌍 India's trade position Still a net importer Buying more finished steel from abroad than it sells

So demand is up, production is up, but prices are down. Usually that doesn't happen at the same time — which is exactly why the import and export numbers are worth a closer look.

If you're buying steel from abroad

Here's the thing — even though domestic steel got cheaper, imports actually grew faster than exports. In July alone, India brought in 702,300 tonnes of finished steel, up 9.5% from last July. But the money spent on those imports jumped a lot more — 40.5% higher, to ₹8,116.3 crore.

What that tells you: imported steel is getting more expensive per tonne even while domestic steel gets cheaper. If you've been importing certain steel grades because they weren't easily available in India, it's worth checking again — the price gap between "import it" and "buy it domestically" just widened in domestic steel's favour.

Zoom out to the full April–July period and the gap is even bigger. Imports were up 36.6% in quantity and 43.1% in value compared to the same four months last year. That means India spent considerably more on imported steel despite lower domestic prices.

If you're exporting steel

This is where the good news is. Steel exports grew even faster than imports. July exports hit 699,300 tonnes — a 44.1% jump from last July. In rupee terms, that's ₹5,630.2 crore earned from exports in a single month, up 33.4% year-on-year.

Real numbers: if your export order last July was worth, say, ₹10 lakh, a similar-sized deal this July would likely fetch you around ₹13.3 lakh — same product, better pricing power because global buyers are ordering more. Over the full April–July stretch, export earnings were up 29.4% compared to the same period last year.

In simple terms: even though India still imports more steel by tonnage than it exports, the export side is growing faster right now. If you're an exporter, this is a a good opportunity — demand from overseas buyers is rising quicker than it's rising at home.

Why are prices dropping? Look at the raw materials

Steel doesn't get cheaper on its own — it gets cheaper when the stuff that goes into making it gets cheaper. And that's exactly what happened during July.

Raw Material July 2026 Price Change vs June
Iron Ore (Lump) ₹5,450/tonne Down 4.4%
Iron Ore (Fines) ₹4,700/tonne Down 3.1%
Manganese Ore ₹18,529/tonne Down 5.0%
Steel Scrap ₹38,580/tonne Down 5.1%

Every single raw material that goes into steel got cheaper in July. That's really the whole explanation for why finished steel prices came down even as demand went up — the cost of making it simply dropped.

One more thing worth flagging: the Nifty Metal Index actually fell 3.2% month-on-month too, even though it's still up a strong 32.6% from a year ago. And the PMI Manufacturing Index — a general health check on India's factories — slipped slightly to 53.5, still above the 50 mark that signals growth, but cooling a bit compared to earlier in the year.

What the big steel companies were up to

A few things happened alongside the numbers that are worth knowing if you deal with India's major steel producers.

SAIL had a genuinely strong quarter. Net profit jumped 138% year-on-year to ₹1,636 crore, on revenue of ₹26,246 crore. That's not a small bump — that's a company having a very good three months. SAIL also picked up a licensing deal with DRDO's Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory to manufacture specialised steel grades for naval ships and submarines — a sign the company is pushing into higher-value, defence-grade steel, not just commodity bars and coils.

NMDC had its best July ever. The company produced 4.06 Million Tonnes of iron ore in a single month — 31% more than the same month last year. If you buy iron ore as a raw material, this kind of production surge is generally good news for supply availability, which lines up with why ore prices softened in July.

There's also a green angle. SAIL opened its first Micro Pellet Plant at Rourkela — a facility that turns steelmaking waste into reusable material instead of sending it to landfill. Small in scale (0.18 Million Tonnes per year) but a real step if you're a buyer who cares about the sustainability credentials of your steel supplier.

Here's the biggest takeaway? Steel is getting made faster, sold faster, and — for now — cheaper, because the raw materials behind it got cheaper too. Buyers get a good window to lock in lower prices. Exporters are riding genuinely strong overseas demand, growing faster than imports are. The one thing to watch is that India still buys more finished steel from abroad than it sells — so if that import bill keeps climbing in value the way it did this July, don't be surprised if domestic steel prices firm back up to compete.

Follow Exim News 24 for daily trade news, policy updates, and practical insights on India's export-import sector.

📌 Stay Connected With Exim News 24

Weekly newsletter, daily trade alerts, and answers to your export questions — pick what works for you.

📩 Weekly roundup, straight to your inbox

Subscribe on Substack

💬 Daily FTA news & customs alerts

Join WhatsApp

🔵 Ask export & customs questions

Follow on Quora

Disclaimer: All information in this post is sourced from the official PIB press release dated 6 August 2026 (Release ID: 2295350), Ministry of Steel, Government of India, based on provisional JPC data for July 2026. This post is for informational and awareness purposes only.