Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless, the largest stainless producer in Japan, has announced to cut the domestic prices for austenitic and ferritic rods by JPY 10,000 per tonne and JPY 5,000 per tonne for September to November 2012 period contracts in response to lower alloy charges.

NSSC stated that it decided to hike the prices in order to reflect the cost changes in the prices.

The company pointed out that the average nickel prices in the period during June 25th 2012 through September 25th 2012 dropped to USD 7.73 per pound from USD 7.75 per pound in the previous quarter. Also, the ferrochrome price fell to USD 1.33 per pound from USD 1.43 per pound

However, the Japanese yen appreciated to JPY 79.7=USD 1 from JPY 81.2=USD 1, making the imports become cheaper.

Meanwhile, NSSC cut the extra charges for alloy content for September to November 2012 period contracts, making its prices for SUS316 and SUS310S bar reduce by JPY 20,000 per tonne and JPY 25,000 per tonne respectively.

Source - www.yieh.com)

(www.steelguru.com)