New Delhi: Within 24 hours after the Government announced a series of duty concessions on steel-making inputs, to keep prices stable and despite the FM''s exhortations to the industry to hold the price line, domestic steel and cement manufacturers have announced price hikes in the two products.

On Thursday, primary steel manufacturers raised hot-rolled steel prices across the board, the increase ranging from Rs700 to Rs1,200 per tonne.

Cement manufacturers too increased prices by Rs12 per 50 kg a bag. Also a few days ago, the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, had announced freight cuts for inputs that go into steel and cement making.

The average price of hot-rolled coils, which has been Rs27,500 per tonne till Wednesday, has gone up to Rs28,500 per tonne from Thursday. Adding a 16 per cent excise duty and four per cent sales tax, the price that the consumer will have to pay has gone up from Rs33,176 per tonne to Rs34,382 per tonne (assuming an average increase of Rs1,000 per tonne).

Public sector SAIL has increased prices of hot-rolled steel in the range of Rs700-800 per tonne, while Tata Steel has increased prices by Rs1,000. The largest producer of flat steel, Essar Steel, has increased prices by Rs1,000-1,200 per tonne. Ispat Industries and JSW Steel have increased prices by Rs1,000-1,200 a tonne, industry sources said.