Daido Steel to Cover Higher Nickel Cost

Daido Steel will increase the selling price of nickel series stainless steel bar and wire rod by 30,000 yen per tonne for July order or September shipment while the firm increases the price of chrome series stainless bar and wire rod by 10,000 yen. The firm tries to cover higher cost for nickel, chrome and other materials and freight through the hike. The firm increases the nickel series products by total 70,000 yen per tonne including previous hike in May. The firm increases the chrome series products for the first time since April 2005. The firm considers introducing surcharge price mechanism to reflect price change of nickel and other materials. Stainless bar demand is firm for industrial machinery. The inventory held by distributors is getting lower when some sizes are stock out. Stainless wire rod demand is firm mainly for Asian market and the price keeps increasing. Daido Steel tries to increase the domestic price when the export price already increased. Nickel price renews record high again and again at London Metal Exchange. The LME price was US$ 13.4 per pound on Wednesday, which was around US$ 4 higher than average in June. LME nickel inventory decreased to 8,244 tonnes. Daido Steel said the firm considers another hike depending on price of nickel, chrome and crude oil when the selling price don’t reflect current higher nickel price. The firm will negotiate with the users individually for each nickel series stainless items due to the variation of nickel contents.