Stainless steel prices in the international markets have indicated a downward trend against the backdrop of decreases of nickel prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) since early November. Nickel prices at the LME, which had peaked in the second half of October at $14,600/mt, have been declining since October 31 and as of the close of business on November 13 stood at $13,605/mt for cash settlements. Having kept their list prices unchanged for October orders as compared to offers for September orders, most global stainless steel producers are expected to maintain their prices at the current levels or to reduce them slightly for November orders.
Meanwhile, import stainless steel offers for Turkey have been moving on a sideways trend for the last couple of weeks. Far Eastern offers to Turkey for prime quality ready stock 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness are ranging at $2,350-2,450/mt CIF Istanbul. In the meantime, European offers and Turkish production stainless steel prices can be found at $2,500-2,600/mt, on CIF and ex-works basis respectively.
Turkey's stainless steel imports in September declined by 198 mt to 41,691 mt as compared to the import volume recorded in August.