Posted on 03 Jul 2024
Yieh United Steel Corp (Yusco), Taiwan's largest stainless steel producer headquartered in Kaohsiung in South Taiwan, has decided to cut its 300-series stainless list prices for sales this month after adopting individual pricing measures for sales last month, Mysteel Global learned.
For local sales in July, Yusco's list prices for 304-grade stainless hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) have been trimmed by TWD 2,000/tonne ($61/t) compared with the previous month. 'Individual' pricing meant that last month, Yusco had negotiated sales prices with customers individually in actual transactions, instead of releasing its list prices for specific major stainless products.
In parallel, Walsin Lihwa, another major stainless producer headquartered in Taipei in North Taiwan, has also decided to cut its list prices of 300-series stainless products for local sales in July, though by a larger margin of TWD 3,000/t, according to a local market source. To date, the company had raised prices every month for the past six months, as reported.
The decrease in the mills' stainless list prices for July sales was in line with market expectations, as stainless demand from Taiwan's local downstream users is depressed, and global nickel prices have also undergone a substantial fall during the past month, Mysteel Global noted.
On June 28, the three-month nickel futures price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $17,291/t, sliding by $2,419/t compared with the end of May, according to the exchange's data.
Besides, stainless demand from overseas buyers is uncertain due to the slowing economic activity during the summer break in Europe and North America, the market source explained. This has persuaded Taiwan's stainless producers to cut their stainless prices somewhat to reflect the decrease in prices of stainless steelmaking raw materials.
Stainless prices in China's mainland have also lost ground because of lackluster demand. As of June 28, the spot price of 304/2B Hongwang 2*1240mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 13,900/tonne ($1,912/t) in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 350/t from one month earlier.
Source:Mysteel Global
