Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless (NSSC), the largest stainless steel producer in Japan announced to raise its list prices for austenitic cold rolled coils (CRC) by ¥25,000/ton for January contracts.
However, NSSC remained its prices for ferritic CRC unchanged for January.
NSSC stated that it decided to hike the list prices for austenitic CRC since average nickel prices increased by US$0.51/lb. month on month to US$7.9/lb. in December.
The company hiked its alloy surcharge and base prices for austenitic CRC by ¥15,000/ton and ¥10,000/ton respectively, making the price rise for austenitic CRC at ¥25,000/ton.
A spokesman of NSSC said that the demand for austenitic CRC is recovering gradually, especially from construction sectors. Thus, the company is expecting the prices rise will be accepted by buyers.