Cr Series Stainless Sheet Price Drops to 240,000 Yen/t, Osaka

Market price of chrome series cold rolled stainless steel sheet decreased to 240,000 yen per tonne for SUS 430 from last month around Osaka. The supply and demand keep loose when the market inventory is increasing due to dealers’ slow shipment. Additionally ferrochrome price is lowering. The market price is expected to maintain downward.

Some users such as electrical appliance makers advanced inventory adjustment and recovered their production to the actual demand level. However, the total demand still keeps low. The sales of Cr series products are also impacted when price of nickel series products is decreasing along wide drop of nickel price.

Inventory adjustment has progressed for Ni series products rather than Cr series products. Domestic inventory of Ni series cold sheet decreased by 5% at the end of February from a month earlier and by 13% from a year earlier, according to Japan stainless coil center association. On the other hand, Cr series cold sheet inventory was higher than Ni series inventory by over 8,000 tonnes. The inventory rate of Cr series products was 3.4 months against shipment, higher than the decent level of 1.8 months.

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless announced to raise the selling price of Cr series products by 2,000 yen per tonne for domestic dealers in April. But the firm may revise the selling price soon because price negotiation for ferrochrome hasn’t concluded for April-June.