Stainless Steel/Stainless prices under pressure due to lacklustre demand

摘要

With little improvement occurring in the demand for stainless steel flat products in Western Europe and the USA throughout spring, the outlook for a rebound in demand in the seasonally quiet third quarter appears to be unlikely. Consequently, we estimate that for the third quarter western world melted production of stainless steel will rise by 4 percent year-on-year, the lowest quarterly rate of growth thus far in 2003. In Western Europe buying activity continued to slow in May, as a result of poor economic fundamentals and in anticipation of the fall in the alloy surcharge in June. Consequently, base prices deteriorated in Germany, Italy and the UK. In addition, weak demand has resulted in a reduction in lead times in comparison with April's estimates. For June, we expect that lead times will be further reduced following the imminent start-up of AvestaPolarit's new meltshop and RAP 5 line in Finland. As a result, overall prospects for European stainless steel producers remain depressed. Furthermore, it is unlikely that demand will improve in the short-term, especially as the summer slowdown begins to kick in. For the region as a whole we estimate that stainless melted production growth will fall by 2 percent year-on-year in Q3 2003.