According to market sources, demand for stainless steel in the local Turkish market has remained quiet over the past week, while stainless steel prices have continued their downtrend. Market sources believe that the large decline in nickel prices during the month of September, by a margin of $2,578/mt, is the main reason for the soft trend of stainless steel prices, despite some improvement in nickel prices in the first 10 days of the current month.
Turkish producers' offers for prime quality ready stock 304/2B stainless steel CRC of 2.0 mm thickness to the local market have decreased by $50/mt during the past week to the range of $2,950-3,000/mt ex-works, for November deliveries. Meanwhile, local buyers' counter offers are $50-100/mt lower than Turkish producers' current offers. On the other hand, stainless steel prices in the domestic spot market are still in the range of $2,900-3,050/mt ex-warehouse.
Regarding nickel prices, the cash and settlement price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) has increased by $750/mt over the past 10 days, closing the day at $16,630/mt on October 10. However, this recent increase in the cash and settlement price has not yet had any positive impact on stainless steel prices.