Stainless steel market softens amid falling nickel prices

Nickel prices have moved on a downward trend in April, after seeing a level of $16,500/mt in late March. On April 18, nickel prices for cash settlements in the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $15,390/mt.
 
This decline in nickel prices has caused a price softening in the international stainless steel markets, where demand was already sluggish. Having reduced their list prices in March, Far Eastern stainless steel producers have cut their prices further in April. Accordingly, China's Baosteel has decreased its stainless steel export prices by $200/mt, while another Chinese producer Taigang Stainless has cut its export offers by $100/mt.
 
The Turkish stainless steel market has also been negatively affected by these price declines and import prices in Turkey have indicated a decrease of $50-100/mt as compared to late March. Current Far Eastern origin stainless steel offers for 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness to Turkey are standing in the range of $2,600-2,750/mt CFR. Meanwhile, under the impact of weaker market conditions, Taiwanese and Chinese stockists have been entering the market with competitive prices for their stock materials. Stainless steel prices in the Turkish domestic market are expected to follow a stable trend in the last week of April and maintain current levels, while no significant improvement is anticipated in the short term on the demand side.