Weak Stainless Cold Rolled Flat Steel Price in Tokyo

Stainless steel cold rolled flat steel market price is decreasing at 340,000-350,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 and 250,000-260,000 yen for SUS430 grade around Tokyo. Slower demand could pressure on the price when the dealers try to liquidate the inventory. However, some industry interests expect the price could hit bottom in February due to recent stabilized nickel ingot price.

The dealers’ inventory adjustment is slow under the slower demand when the dealers’ sales volume decreases by 30-40% from a year earlier level. The dealers’ inventory is very high for chrome series products due to major production cut by automakers and appliances makers. The chrome series inventory increased to 56,756 tonnes at end of November exceeding 53,950 tonnes of nickel series inventory, according to the coil center association.

Domestic stainless makers reduce the production by more than 50% of the capacity. Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel (NSSC) stops the operation of some cold rolling mills at Hikari and Kashima plants for around 6 months while the firm reduces the stainless steel making by more than 50% of the capacity. Nisshin Steel also expands the stainless steel production cut by more than 50% from normal level. JFE Steel stops the chrome series cold rolling mill for 1-2 days for a week at Chiba plant.