Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless to Pass Higher Nickel Cost

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel announced on Monday the firm increases the selling price of nickel series stainless cold rolled sheet and plate by 30,000 yen per tonne for domestic distributors for June order from May. The firm increases the cold rolled sheet price to 365,000 yen per tonne including alloy linked price and base price to cover higher nickel price. The firm increased the cold sheet price by 75,000 yen during the hikes for 6 months in a row. The firm left the price of chrome series stainless products unchanged. The firm increased the alloy linked price for nickel series products to reflect averaged nickel price at US$ 8.85 per pound in London Metal Exchange in April-May while the firm left the base price unchanged. The averaged nickel price increased by around US$ 1.4 from March-April. The nickel price was US$ 9.3 on Friday keeping the high level. The domestic market price of nickel series stainless products is increasing under the pressure of higher nickel price and firm domestic demand. The inventory keeps low level worldwide under firm demand. The supply in Europe is getting tighter despite of full capacity operations by local makers. Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless said the firm would increase the selling price of nickel series products by around 15,000 yen per tonne for July order to cover higher nickel price. The distributors are likely to pass the higher cost price on the reselling price. The demand of nickel series plate products is firm more than sheet products. Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless expects the higher demand for liquid crystal panel television and vacuum chamber along with offshore desalting of seawater plants. The firm tries to pump up the operation at the plate mill of Yawata increasing the output by around 30% to monthly 11,000 tonnes in August. The firm also increases the contract price of nickel series cold sheet by 30,000-50,000 yen per tonne for July shipment. The firm tries to cover higher cost of nickel by increasing the selling price, which now reflects only US$ 6 per pound of nickel price. The firm also increases the contract price gradually after August. The firm said the firm assumes US$ 10 of nickel price and reflects the higher nickel price through the first step of 30,000-50,000 yen of hike and the second and other hikes.