Nippon Steel’s stainless steel contract prices continue to rise in May 2022
Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. announced on May 12 a comprehensive increase in the price of stainless steel contracts signed in May 2022: SUS304 and other nickel-based stainless steel cold rolled sheets and medium and heavy plates increased by 80,000 yen per ton, of which the base price remained unchanged, only Alloy surcharge increased.
Chromium-based stainless steel cold rolled sheets such as SUS430 rose by 25,000 yen per ton, of which the base price and alloy surcharge continued to rise by 10,000 yen and 15,000 yen respectively. This is the 7th consecutive month that the price of its nickel-based products has risen, and the price of its chrome-based products has risen for 2 consecutive months. Since it started to rise in June 2020, the cumulative increase in the price of its nickel-based products has reached 345,000 yen/ton; the price of chromium-based products has increased by 115,000 yen/ton since March 2021.
During March-April 2022, the average international nickel price continued to rise from $12.71/lb in the previous period (February-March 2022) to $14.78/lb (12 consecutive increases), and the average contract price of ferrochrome also increased from the previous period (February-March 2022) to $14.78/lb. 188 cents per pound of chromium rose to 206 cents per pound of chromium, and the exchange rate of the yen against the US dollar accelerated from 117.88 in the previous period to 123.26 (7 consecutive rises), which led to the continued increase in the cost of imported stainless steel raw materials nickel and chromium.