Stainless steel scrap prices plummet on falling nickel prices

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The falling scrap demand from mills along with sharp decline in nickel prices have resulted in huge decline in stainless steel scrap prices during the month of October this year. The market participants from stainless steel sector had earlier predicted that no further fall in prices is expected before the year end.

The prices of 304-grade scrap dropped almost US$110 per tonne during the month from US$ 1000-1050 per tonne to US$ 890-940. The prices of 316-grade stainless steel scrap materials plunged by nearly 8.4% over the previous month during October this year. The prices fell sharply from US$ 1310-1360 per tonne to US$ 1200-1250 per tonne.

Chrome-grade stainless steel scrap prices too dropped during the month. The chrome-409 quality scrap prices averaged around US$ 200-240 per tonne, whereas chrome 430-grade scrap prices ranged between US$300 per tonne and US$340 per tonne. The prices of 409 and 430-grade chrome scrap witnessed a decline of nearly US$50 per tonne when compared with the previous month.

Global Nickel markets ended in small deficit of 39,000 tonnes in January-September 2015 with apparent demand exceeding production. The calculated full year surplus had stood at 241,800 tonnes in the whole of 2014, according to the latest data released by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). If production cut announced by eight leading Chinese nickel producers gets implemented, the global market is likely to see more deficits.

Meantime, LME Nickel prices have slumped nearly 50% since the beginning of this year. The 3-month London Metal Exchange nickel futures price fell close to 0.5% Monday to $8,740 per metric ton.