The market update for India in October 2020, with focus on construction sector, is as follows.
- Crude Steel production increased marginally from August 2020 to 8.52 million tons in September 2020. Production has jumped by almost 50% from May 2020 level.
- TMT rebar retail prices increased marginally month-on-month by 0.8% in October 2020.
- After remaining relatively stable since June 2020, cement prices declined by over Rs. 20 per bag in October 2020.
- Crude Oil prices remained stable in October 2020 at USD 40.19 per barrel. Due to second wave of COVID-19 cases in places like Europe, demand is likely to remain muted in the short-term future.
- Share market indices jumped significantly by 3.5% to 4.0% in October 2020, on the back of declining COVID-19 cases in India and subsequent economic recovery.
- Consumer confidence index of the RBI is still at a historic low at 49.9 in September 2020. It would be interesting to see if the index bounces back with recovering economic performance.
