Higher Stainless Steel Price in Tokyo

Stainless sheet steel price is firm at 420,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 grade base size and 210,000 yen for SUS430 grade around Tokyo. The price of nickel series stainless products surges under high nickel price. The nickel series price could reach 440,000 yen in early October. Nickel cash price at London Metal Exchange hit record US$ 13.95 per pound at average in August. The price reached temporally US$ 15. The price is still high at US$ 12.9 on Wednesday despite of decrease. Japanese interests expect the price keeps more than US$ 11 level in the year. Japanese largest stainless maker of Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel increased the nickel series products price by total 175,000 yen per tonne in the year through September order. Nisshin Steel also increased the price by total 145,000 yen since April. They are increasing prices for contract users when NSSC said some users accepted 150,000-170,000 yen of hike. Japanese distributors’ stock of nickel series stainless sheet decreased by 6.2% in August from July, which represented drops for 7 months in a row, according to national association of stainless coil centers. The supply is getting tighter when the makers reduced shipment for distributors despite of their full capacity operations under firm demand. Japan Stainless Steel Association reported Japanese stainless makers got 47% higher order for nickel series products and 53% more for chrome series products in July from a year earlier. Some users shift from nickel series to chrome series with the extreme high nickel price.