Ni Series Stainless Sheet Market Price Weakens by 10,000 Yen/t in Japan

Nickel series stainless steel cold rolled sheet decreased by 10,000 yen to around 340,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 base size products with 2 millimetersthick at dealers’ transaction around Tokyo from a month ago. The market price is weakening when material prices are likely to decline and some dealers reduced the reselling price in advance. In addition, the imports are arriving from South Korea, China and Taiwan with over 10% lower price than the domestic prices mainly due to strong yen trend.

Japanese coil centers’ sales of nickel series cold stainless products decreased by 15.2% to 22,276 tonnes in May from April while the inventory increased by 6.8% to 50,778 tonnes, according to Japan Stainless Steel Coil Center Association. The inventory exceeded 50,000 tonnes for the first time since July 2010. The sales volume downed to the level of 2Q 2009. One coil center officer said the sales volume declined as a rebound of speculative demand jump in March-April.

The market price is also decreasing by 10,000 yen to 340,000-350,000 yen per tonne around Osaka. The main factor is stainless steel makers’ selling price cut along nickel market price down.