Most stainless steel prices in the United States drifted modestly lower in March even though mills increased their base prices late last month.
Alloy surcharges fell by a greater amount than the base price increases, leading to lower overall stainless prices.
On February 25,
North American Stainless (NAS),
Outokumpu Stainless USA and Allegheny Technologies Inc (ATI) separately announced plans to reduce the functional discount for certain cold-rolled products by two percentage points effective with March 1 shipments.
NAS also increased its plate price by $60 per ton (3 cents per lb), and ATI increased the net transaction price before surcharge on Type 200-, 300- and 400-series continuous mill plate and plate mill plate products by 3 cents per lb.
Benchmark 304 and 316 surcharges from the four largest US mills - NAS, Outokumpu USA, ATI and AK Steel -...