South Korean steelmaker POSCO has frozen the ex-works prices for its stainless steel products to be shipped in July.
The decision to freeze its prices came not only because the international market price for nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) is maintaining the level of $22,000/mt, but also because both demand and prices for stainless steel products have recently hit the bottom.
Accordingly, POSCO's ex-works prices for 304 stainless hot rolled coils (HRC) and cold rolled steel sheets (CRS) (based on 2 mm and 2B) have remained at KRW 3.6 million/mt ($3,372/mt) and KRW 3.87 million/mt ($3,625/mt) respectively. In the meantime, POSCO's prices for 430 stainless HRC and CRS (based on 2 mm and 2B) have been maintained at KRW 2.04 million/mt ($1,911/mt) and KRW 2.42 million/mt ($2,267/mt) respectively.
Market operators forecast that POSCO's ex-works price freeze for stainless steel products in July will support an improvement in demand. Prior to the new announcement, market players were stating that POSCO could reduce its ex-factory stainless steel product prices by KRW 100,000/mt ($94/mt) for July, as the nickel price on the LME has been bearish at the level of $22,000/mt this month.
$1 = KRW 1,068