Stainless steel sheet prices in the United States surged to decade highs in July due to increasing mill base price and rising surcharges.
Buyers, who were unable to buy sufficient metal on allocation from mills, reported that non-mill sources prices rose sharply, widening the spread between the two. Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for stainless steel 304 cold-rolled sheet, fob mill US was $179 per hundredweight ($3,580 short per ton) on Tuesday August 10, up 4.23% from $171.75 per cwt on July 12, and up 6.39% from $168.25 per cwt on June 10. This is the highest price since it was $193.75 per cwt on June 3, 2011.The assessment for stainless steel 304L cold-rolled sheet, fob mill US was $181 per cwt ($3,620 per ton) on August 10, up 4.17% from $173.75 per cwt ($3,475 per ton) on July 12, and up 6.31% from $170.25 on June 10. This is the highest assessment since it was $181 per cwt on July 7, 2011.Fastmarkets' assessment for stainless steel 316L cold-rolled sheet, fob mill US rose to $245 per cwt...