Japan’s Nippon Stainless Steel hikes prices for nickel-based stainless steel products. Prices for basic steel grade SUS304 wire rods sales from March-May, to be delivered in April-June will increase by JPY25,000/mt ($226/mt).
The price of stainless steel basic steel grade SUS430 wire rod will be increased by JPY5,000/mt. The price adjustment is limited to alloy surcharges to reflect the increase in raw material prices, and the base price remains unchanged. Raw material for 304 is mainly nickel while for 430 is chromium. In March, both nickel and chromium prices increased to $8.26/lb and 125.50¢/lb, respectively.
This is the third consecutive quarter of the increase in the contract price of Nippon’s nickel products, while the contract price of chromium products has only been raised for the first time since the June-August 2020 contract.
Another major Japanese stainless steel wire manufacturer, Nippon Seisen has also recently announced a similar hike in product pricing on the back of higher raw material prices. The contract price of nickel-based stainless steel SUS304 wire will increase by JPY25,000/mt in April 2021.
Prices of Chrome-based stainless steel product SUS430 wire will also increase by JPY25,000/mt. The contract price for SUS303 stainless steel wire will be increased by JPY30,000/mt and the contract price of SUS316 and SUS310S stainless steel wire will be hiked by JPY50,000/mt depending on the content of nickel and other alloys.
($1=JPY110)