Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. (NSSC) announced on August 8 that it will cut its contract price for nickel-based cold-rolled stainless steel sheets and plate for domestic sales in August by ¥5,000/ton (where the base price remains unchanged, The alloy surcharge is lowered by 5,000 yen/ton) to reflect the decline in the price of nickel and chrome raw materials, while the contract price (including base price and alloy surcharge) for chrome-based cold-rolled stainless steel sheets remains unchanged. This is the price reduction of nickel-based products after a price cut in August last year, and the price of chrome-based products is unchanged for two consecutive months.

     During the period from June to July, the international nickel price dropped from 6.68 US dollars/lb in the previous period (May-June) to 6.55 US dollars/lb. The average contract price of ferrochrome decreased from 150 cents/lb chromium to 148 cents/lb. The chrome, yen/dollar exchange rate continued to rise from 110.89 to 111.71.