Flat Ni Stainless Cold Sheet Price, Weak Cr Series in Tokyo

Stainless cold rolled flat steel market price is flat at around 520,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 base size around Tokyo while the price is weak at around 250,000 yen for SUS430. The demand is still slow for nickel series products even after major holiday in early May while the chrome series inventory held by distributors was more than 2 months of shipment in March. Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel increased the selling price by 13,000 yen per tonne for chrome series products and by 10,000 yen for nickel series in the month to cover higher raw materials cost. The firm would increase the price by around 15,000 yen for chrome series products for next month under the surcharge mechanism. The dealers anticipate the chrome series price would reach 300,000 yen level with the additional hike and the buyers could avoid the higher price after the buyers shifted to chrome series from nickel series due to the price merit. However, the chrome series products’ market price is slow to increase due to the structure with higher portion for contract price sales. Some dealers expect the chrome series market price could improve when nickel series demand would recover.