South Korean steelmaker POSCO is to keep its stainless steel prices unchanged for the near future in spite of the recent fall in nickel prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME), a company spokesman stated on Wednesday.
Explaining the decision to make no change to stainless prices, the POSCO official stated that only a few days had passed since the fall in nickel prices and that more time was needed for this price trend to be confirmed. He went on to add that their series of stainless steel price hikes earlier this year had not fully reflected the soaring prices of nickel.
On June 6 the LME changed its trading rules for nickel in order to boost market availability of the metal. Nickel prices subsequently lost more than 10 percent, falling to an eleven-week low. Spanning four separate increases, POSCO has upped its prices for 300 series stainless steel with an eight percent nickel content by a total of 30 percent so far this year.