Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless to Cover Higher Nickel Cost

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel announced the firm increases the selling price of nickel series cold rolled stainless sheet by 45,000 yen for August order to 420,000 yen per tonne including 10,000 yen price hike for base price. The firm increases the alloy linked price for 8 months in a row and the base price for the first time since December 2005. The price is 130,000 yen or around 49% higher than the recent bottom in December 2005. The firm increases the plate price by 45,000 yen including 35,000 yen hike for alloy price and 10,000 yen for base price. The firm plans to increase the alloy price by 40,000-50,000 yen for September order to cover higher nickel price. The firm also increases the extra charge for nickel series stainless items. The firm increases the charge by 20,000 yen per tonne for SUS316 grade and by 40,000 yen for SUS316L for August order. The firm tries to cover higher nickel cost through the increase for SUS316 with 10-14% nickel and SUS316L with 12-15% nickel compared with 8% nickel in SUS304. The firm also increases the contract price of nickel series stainless cold sheet by 40,000 yen per tonne for October order after the 70,000 yen hike in January-September.