Firm Cr Stainless Cold Sheet Price, Weak Ni Stainless in Tokyo

Stainless cold rolled flat steel market price is weak at around 480,000-490,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 base size around Tokyo while the price is firm at 270,000 yen for SUS430.

The market interests are still pessimistic for nickel series products due to slow demand despite of the recent rebound of nickel ingot price. The flat steel is expected to drop by 10,000-20,000 yen for nickel series and to increase by 10,000 yen for chrome series.

Japanese stainless flat steel processors’ inventory was as high as 2.05 months for the shipment for nickel series products at end of July, according to industrial association. The chrome series stock was normal at 1.88 months. The sales was 29,665 tonnes for nickel series products, which was less than 30,000 tonnes of normal level, while the chrome series sales was record level of 29,514 tonnes.

The makers keeps reducing the output by 30-40% for nickel series stainless cold rolled flat steel for better supply balance.