Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless (NSSC), the largest stainless steel producer in Japan announced to raise its domestic prices for ferritic cold rolled coils (CRC) by 10,000/ton for May contract in order to reflect higher ferrochrome prices.
It’s learned that the contract prices for ferrochrome for April through June increased by US$0.145/lb. from US$1.35/lb. in a quarter ago. Meanwhile, the company decided to leave its domestic prices for austenitic CRC and plates unchanged for May contracts. NSSC pointed out that although the average nickel prices dropped by US$0.5/lb. to US$7.09/lb. in April, the depreciated Japanese Yen against the US dollar made the imported nickel become more expensive.