Strong Stainless Steel Sheet Price in Tokyo

Stainless steel sheet price is strong at around 500,000-520,000 yen per tonne for base sized SUS304 and at around 220,000 yen for SUS430 around Tokyo. Nickel price at London Metal Exchange stays at over US$ 14.5 per pound in 2007, which keeps the strong tone since last year.Stainless steel sheet demand is firm in Japan. The shipment is higher for automobile and kitchen instrument than the same period of 2006, while relatively low for construction. The supply is tight mainly for distributors when Japanese makers control the output balanced with the actual demand.Hot- and cold-rolled stainless steel sheet import increased to about 12,000 tonnes by about 4,000 tonnes in November 2006 from a year ago. The import from South Korea especially expanded. However, dealer source said there was little price gap between the imports and domestic products.The import increased for recent 3 months in a row. If the import continues increasing, the domestic price might be impacted.