Prices of iron and steel products have continued to surge pushing the inflation, in addition to petroleum products, to a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent for the week ended June 7.

Despite the steps taken by the government to check rising prices of steel products, items like sheets, pig iron and various other construction material became costlier during the reporting week.

Even the prices of ceiling fans, a necessity during the summers, climbed by 6 per cent during the week. In addition to the fuel index which increased by 7.8 per cent, it was steel items which recorded a high price increase, reveals the data on wholesale price-based index released by the government on Friday.

The price of steel soared by 14 per cent, while that of pig and foundry iron became costlier by 11 per cent during the week. The price of bar and rounds rose by 9 per cent followed by steel sheets (4 per cent) and pipes and tubes (2 per cent).

The domestic prices of steel have been increasing since 2006-07. Between January and April 2008, price of pig iron went up by more than 70 per cent, construction steel like TMT and wire rods by more than 36 per cent and HR coils by more than 40 per cent.

Apart from readjusting the duty structure, the government has persuaded the steel makers to reduce prices. Several large steel producers have reduced the prices by Rs 4,000 per tonne on request of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 7.

They had also agreed to hold the price line for the next three months ending August. The industry attributed high prices to factors like raw material cost, strong demand in international and domestic market and high global steel prices.

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