Nickel prices have been following a downward trend throughout April, while international stainless steel prices have also continued to decline. Far Eastern mills have been the first to reflect decreases in nickel prices in their stainless steel offers, and it is thought that European producers will also follow suit. Chinese and Taiwanese stainless steelmakers have revised their local and export list prices for April downward by $100-200/ as compared to previous levels, while Far Eastern origin offers to Turkey for 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness are now at $2,550-2,650/mt CFR, moving down by $50/mt since last week. In the meantime, European suppliers' offers to Turkey are hovering at $50-100/mt above these levels.
On the other hand, nickel prices, which closed on April 25 at $15,135/mt for cash settlements on the London Metal Exchange (LME), are not expected to fall under the level of $15,000/mt. In 2012, the sharpest decline in nickel prices was seen in August, falling as low as $15,200/mt dip, following which prices again gained upward momentum.
Import stainless steel prices in Turkey since the beginning of 2013 have been indicating a downward trend, as can be seen below:
