Prices for grade-304 stainless steel cold-rolled (CR) sheets in Europe narrowed in the week ended Friday May 3 under the conflicting influences of higher alloy surcharges for May and lower nickel prices.
The May surcharge for grade-304 CR sheets increased by ?,?20-23 per tonne to ?,?1,410-1,450 ($1,578-1,623) per tonne on April 26, despite falling nickel prices.Sources said earlier that, if nickel prices were to continue to decrease, mills would have to give back some the stainless base price increases they have achieved in recent months; that is, increases that were not accounted for...