The past twelve months turned out to be very difficult for the stainless steelmakers - particularly in the United States and Western Europe. In the August issue, 2000, we stated that we believed that the market had peaked in the developed nations and that a correction was anticipated.However, we did not expect the price collapse which occurred in the industrialised countries from the end of the second quarter last year. It was clear that alloy surcharges would reduce because the high values of nickel were already in retreat. It was inevitable that transaction prices (including alloy surcharges) would decrease in line with the cost of nickel and chromium. In Asia, where alloy surcharges do not apply, it was likely that transaction prices would fall in a similar manner.
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