Stainless Steel Sheet Market Price Exceeds 400,000 y/t in Tokyo

The market price of nickel series cold-rolled stainless steel sheet exceeded 400,000 yen per tonne in Tokyo. Major distributors seem to raise their reselling prices by 20,000 yen to 420,000 yen per tonne after September 20. Distributors keep strong selling stances under the tight supply. Both makers and dealers advance the price hike to pass increasing material costs especially for nickel.Japanese major stainless steel maker, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corporation raised the selling price by 55,000 yen to 475,000 yen per tonne for September contracts with distributors. Nisshin Steel also increased the selling price by 70,000 yen for both distributors and large contract users.Nickel spot price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 13.8 per pound on Thursday. Monthly averaged price was US$ 13.9 by September 14 almost as high as August. Monthly averaged price was US$ 12.1 in July and stainless steel makers seem to raise their selling prices more.Stainless steel sheet demand maintains active and the supply keeps tight. Stainless steel sheet inventory decreased by 17% to 61,475 tonnes for nickel series products at Japanese coil centers in July from the previous month and the inventory to shipment rate was 1.6 months while the moderate level is said at 1.7 months, according to Japan Stainless Steel Coil Center Association.The market price is at the secondly highest level after 550,000 yen per tonne in 1977 and expected to rise more toward the end of this year. Makers have raised their selling prices by as much as 130,000-170,000 yen per tonne against large contract users since spring 2006.