Outokumpu, Aperam and Acciai Speciali Terni, leading stainless steel producers in Europe, have decreased their alloy surcharges for February. After fluctuating throughout most of the current month, the cash seller and settlement nickel price at London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $14,675/mt on January 27, indicating a total decrease of $205/mt compared to January 2. Nickel prices have moved on an overall downward trend over the past two months, impacting on the alloy surcharges in January. Alloy surcharges have softened due to the lack of the expected improvement in cash and settlement nickel prices in 2015.
The above producers' alloy surcharges for February 2015 are as follows:
Producer/ Grade | Outokumpu (€/mt) | Monthly change (€/mt) | Aperam (€/mt) | Monthly change (€/mt) | Acciai Speciali Terni (/mt)) | Monthly change (€/mt) |
430 | 455 ($519/mt) | +16 ($18/mt) | 429 ($489/mt) | -1 ($1,14/mt) | 461 ($526/mt) | +12 ($14/mt) |
304 | 1.292 ($1.473/mt) | -35 ($40/mt) | 1.238 ($1.411/mt) | -49 ($56/mt) | 1.380 ($1.573/mt) | +55 ($63/mt) |
316 | 1.891 ($2.156/mt) | -37 ($42/mt) | 1.811 ($2.065/mt) | -43 ($49/mt) | 1.889 ($2.153/mt) | -36 ($41/mt) |
€1 = $1.14