Research

Forecasts and market analysis based on price assessments from Fastmarkets MB and Fastmarkets AMM

Change font size:   

April 2019 | Stainless Steels


US stainless prices to ease in May with surcharges reversing course: American Highlights


Even though overall US stainless steel import licenses were up 2% month on month and 14.9% year on year in March, that continued to be largely for niche products, including light gauge sheet.

US stainless prices edge back downwards
It isn’t surprising that US stainless steel consumers and distributors continue to be very cautious about their purchases given the continued volatility of domestic prices and a generally cloudy outlook with regards to where they will be going from here. This comes as, after two months of moving upwards, US stainless steel prices will be easing again in May. There are across-the-board declines in alloying costs. While nickel has only fallen 0.5% over the past month, its rate of decline has escalated in the past week or two. Meanwhile iron prices have fallen by 5.2% and those for molybdenum by 1.7% compared with those a month ago.

As result, while surcharges for ferritic grades will see the greatest month on month declines, they will be down across the board. Pushed down by lower iron, May surcharges for grade 409...

ACCESS RESTRICTED

You must be a paid subscriber to view the full content.
Content over 60 days old can only be accessed by subscribers.
Call +44(0)20 7779 8000 with your credit card details or subscribe online.


SUBSCRIBE


Receive unlimited access to all current and archive content going back to 2008 including downloadable pricing data and forecasts. Plus download the latest issue as soon as it’s published.

Subscribe


Already subscribed?