US stainless steel producers, after having seen their margins squeezed pretty much to the limit, are finally getting a little relief with both raw material surcharges and base prices edging upward at least for the time being. Despite all of the uncertainty both globally and domestically, it appears that the first tier of the aggressive two tier price hike announced by domestic flat-roll mills is being accepted by the marketplace just about in their entirety at the same time that extras hit bottom. There is more uncertainty, however, where prices will go from here. A lot depends on the ability of the mills to continue to maintain their unified front. That could be very difficult if the price differential between foreign and domestic steel widens. A lot also depends on whether nickel prices will continue to firm or if, as we suspect, they either bounce along the floor or even deteriorate slightly from current levels.
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