Japan Firm Demand for Cr Stainless, Slump for Ni Stainless

Japanese stainless cold rolled flat steel supply is likely to keep tight for chrome series products in October-March period while the nickel series products supply is oversupply when the buyers are reluctant to buy now with expectation for lower price and the building demand is very slow. The makers try to reduce the supply for nickel series products but the adjustment could take more time toward January-March period. The chrome series supply is tight due to firm demand for automobile. The makers including Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel, JFE Steel and Nisshin Steel get strong order for their original products. They cannot meet the all order even at full capacity operations. However, nickel series supply is oversupply when the buyers reduce the procurement and wait the price decreases to reflect lower nickel ingot price. The slower demand continues even in October, which is the peak season usually. Very slow building demand also reduces the actual demand for kitchen and other application. Japanese stainless coil center association reported the cold rolled flat steel inventory increased by 2.3% to 135,948 tonnes in September from August while the shipment also increased by 8.7% to 53,151 tonnes. The chrome series inventory represented 1.93 months of shipment, which decreased by 0.27 months from August, which the nickel series stock increased by 0.03 points to 2.95 months.