December 03, 2008

Taigang to increase SS prices in April 2008

Taigang Stainless Steel Co Ltd has announced that it will raise core product prices by as much as CNY 1,800 on April 1st 2008 in order to offset climbing raw material prices.

The details of hike is as under
1. 304 series CR by CNY 1,500 to CNY 1,800 per tonne
2. 410 series CR by CNY 500 per tonne
3. 430 series CR by CNY 800 per tonne
4. 304 series HR by CNY 1,500 per tonne

A Taigang Stainless sales official told Intefax China that "The April price hikes reflect market supply and demand, as well as raw material price hikes. However, despite these recent corrections, the average nickel price in March remained above that of February, and stainless steel mills are so confident that nickel prices will rebound in April that they have already decided on the April product price hikes.”

The official said "Ferrochrome price hikes rather than high nickel prices is becoming a bottleneck for stainless steel mills right now. We're really feeling the squeeze from the drastic growth in ferrochrome prices. In addition, ferrochrome supplies are still tight."