The almost stable trend of nickel prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) coupled with sluggish demand in the local Turkish stainless steel market has resulted in a sideways price trend in the market in question in the last couple of weeks. Demand is not expected to improve before the Feast of Sacrifice holiday (October 15-20), while activity will likely pick up after the holiday. In the meantime, Far Eastern mills' price announcements for October orders have been seen as indicative of the poor demand situation in the global markets. South Korea-based POSCO has kept its domestic prices unchanged as compared to previous levels, while Chinese steel giant Baosteel and Taiwan's Yieh United Steel Corporation (YUSCO) have cut their offers. Meanwhile, Far Eastern offers to Turkey for prime quality ready stock 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness are ranging at $2,250-2,400/mt CIF Istanbul.
Although nickel prices at the LME have decreased by $200/mt since early this week, the prices have in general shown no significant changes over the past month, but instead have been characterized by slight fluctuations. As of October 3, prices at the LME closed the day at $13,635/mt for cash settlements.
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