Surcharges announced by Outokumpu show further falls for most stainless steel grades. Nickel prices have continued to fall since the middle of February from levels close to USD 22,000 per tonne down this week to below USD 17,000 per tonne.

Most of these falls are on the back of economic gloom and the low demand for Nickel along with several other metals related commodities. The only increase in surcharges is for ferritic grades dues to increased chrome prices.

As a result at least one Nickel mining company has gone into administration Kagara, with others under severe pressure. Many companies are looking to diversify and reduce their investment in Nickel production and generally scale it back, longer term this may result in shortages and drive the price back upwards

The surcharges for the key grades are listed below:
1. 304/1.4301 - 1420 EUR 1143 GBP
2. 316/1.4404 - 2177 EUR 1752 GBP
3. 430/1.4016 - 529 EUR 426 GBP

Source - Stainless Steel.me

(www.steelguru.com)