Stainless Sheet Price Could Increase in Tokyo

Japanese market price of stainless sheet is flat with potential increase 300,000 yen per tonne for SUS 300 series stainless and at 200,000 yen for SUS 430 series in Tokyo. The market price could keep strong under price hike by POSCO of South Korea and higher nickel price at London Metal Exchange. Distributors’ stainless inventory of hot rolled and cold rolled sheet increased by 1,757 tonnes to 68,384 tonnes for nickel series and by 333 tonnes to 42,423 tonnes for chrome series in January from December, according to the national stainless coil center association. A source of stainless maker said the inventory kept decreasing though some centers increased the stock of nickel series cold rolled stainless due to the book closing for the year to December. A source of distributor said the inventory has some stock out size depending on the grades. Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel increased the selling price of stainless cold rolled sheet by 10,000 yen to 310,000 yen per tonne for distributors. A distributor source said the maker’s price is too high compared with the market price though the demand is firm from downstream distributors.