Higher stainless steel offers fail to gain acceptance in Turkey

The relatively sideways trend of nickel prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) in September and weak stainless steel demand in global markets have prevented stainless steel prices from moving upward. Nickel prices at the LME, which had increased above the level of $14,000/mt in the past week, have softened a little this week, with prices at $13,780/mt for cash settlements at the close of business on September 26, similar to early September levels.
 
The Chinese stainless steel giants initially kept their stainless steel prices for October delivery unchanged, but then decided to revise their prices downward. Meanwhile, European stainless steel producers have announced reductions for their alloy surcharges. On the back of these developments, import stainless steel offers for Turkey have maintained their previous levels. Far Eastern offers to Turkey for prime quality ready stock 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness are still ranging at $2,250-2,450/mt CIF Istanbul, while there are also offers available at $2,500-2,600/mt CIF from some Chinese and Taiwanese stockists, though these offers have been found to be on the high side by Turkish buyers. Market sources predict that demand will improve in the fourth quarter and that prices may see small upward adjustments.