POSCO to hike stainless steel prices in Sept'21 on raw material cost push

One of the world's largest steelmakers, South Korea's Pohang Iron and Steel Co Ltd (POSCO) has decided to hike its stainless steel (SS) prices by 100,000 won/tonne ($86.36/t) for the 300 series and 50,000 won/t ($43.18/t) for 400 series in Sept'21 due to rising global raw material prices.

According to SteelDaily, POSCO explained that the increase was decided upon since customers have difficulty in reflecting the actual increase in their selling prices, although there is an accumulated cost burden due to continuous rise in the price of main raw materials for stainless steel such as nickel and chromium.

The company said that the hike had been implemented to cover the higher costs of chrome, nickel, and other raw materials. SS scrap prices are escalating even more sharply owing to low inventories in the market. LME nickel prices jumped by 7% per tonne in Aug'21 as against Jun'21 levels. Chrome prices are continuously registering a record high level due to supply-demand mismatch worldwide owing to power restriction norms in Inner Mongolia, one of the main production hubs of ferro alloys in China, and environmental regulation in Sichuan.

To maintain the price parity and to reflect the hike in raw material prices, Europe's Outokumpu increased the prices of the 300 series by 142 euros/t ($167.69/t) and 400 series by 60 euros/t ($70.86/t). Meanwhile, US-based NAS raised prices of the 300 series by $83/t.

Based on the distribution prices of SS 302 series cold-rolled products, South Korea's domestic stainless steel prices are maintained at lower levels compared to global prices in Europe, United States, and China. The Korean domestic market is influenced by POSCO's pricing policy despite such strong global SS prices.