Higher Stainless Steel Bar Price in Tokyo

Stainless steel bar price is around 670,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 grade and 970,000 yen for SUS316 around Tokyo. The price is expected to increase more when distributors try to pass makers’ hike under surging nickel ingot price. Stainless steel makers try to increase the selling price to improve the profitability when they are suffered from surging nickel price. They will pass the higher cost price on the selling price. They increased the nickel series price by around 10% or around 60,000 yen per tonne for February shipment. The distributors started to pass the higher cost price in March. A major distributor source said the distributors’ buyers accepted the higher price and the users accepted 30,000-40,000 yen higher prices. Stainless steel bar demand is firm for information technology industry and industrial machinery. A major distributor source said the demand is mainly for actual consumption due to higher order for cut-processing though some buyers try to secure materials with expectation for higher price. The supply is tight when the distributors have stock out sizes especially for base sizes.