Over the past week, Turkish stainless steel producers’ production costs have moved on a fluctuating trend and declined slightly compared to the previous week, though they are still considered to be on the high side. Accordingly, Turkish mills have been unwilling to reduce their domestic stainless steel prices despite the weak demand. As a result, prices in the local Turkish stainless steel market have remained unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, buyers have postponed their bookings in order to monitor nickel prices and have adopted a wait-and-see stance.
Turkish stainless steel producers’ prices for 2 mm 304 grade 2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) and 2 mm 430 grade 2B stainless steel CRC are currently at $2,700-2,800/mt ex-works and $1,650-1,750/mt ex-works respectively.
On March 22, cash nickel prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed the day at $13,355/mt.