Stainless Steel Surcharges

Nickel has recently risen slightly following a downward trend, the outlook from the International Nickel Study Group is forecasting a slight surplus of 20,000 tonnes which is considerably less than previous years. With the exchange rates calm and no significant interest rate changes anticipated this is not expected to be a factor in  surcharges, add to this Chrome prices fixed until June and no significant movement in Molybdenum.

As a result stainless steel surcharges are expected to remain fairly stable over the next couple of months. Any changes are likely to come after the summer months, due to holiday closures of stainless steel mills and anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Taiwanese stainless steel a supply shortage of cold rolled stainless steel may result. This in turn may drive prices of stainless steel upwards and possibly Nickel prices.