September alloy surcharges in Europe are forecast to fall by €50-70/tonne ($54-76/t), stainless steel buyers and sales executives tell Kallanish.

This is due to the continued falling nickel price and weak demand for stainless finished products, especially tubes and flats. “Even though the alloy surcharge has gained slightly in the past days due to the upticks of nickel, the general trend is negative and is likely to remain weak until the first week of September,” a European buyers comments.

“All mills in Italy, France and Spain are shutting down for the next three weeks and market activity is slowing down despite the already poor demand in Europe. Hot and cold rolled coils spot prices will certainly remain stable until the end of August,” another sales executive comments from a beach somewhere in France.

All the sources interviewed by Kallanish were very careful with price forecasts due to the unpredictability of nickel. However, they all agreed that the alloy surcharges decrease in September should not exceed €70/t while European base prices remain unchanged.