Taiwan’s upstream stainless steel mills will announce their new prices for October next week. Stimulated by production reduction amid the energy crisis in Europe, the supply shortage after the typhoon disaster in South Korea’s POSCO, the LME nickel futures hitting a new high since the end of June, and depreciation of the New Taiwan dollar, steel mills’ costs of raw materials have increased, thereby firming the expectation of higher new prices for October.

The monthly average price of LME nickel has reached US$22,672/ton so far this month, higher than the average price in August. Besides, scrap prices also increased, which will support steel prices.

According to market participants, China scheduled more stainless steel production in September. With firmer stainless steel prices and new-low inventory levels, coupled with Indonesian Tsingshan’s recent price hikes, it was expected that stainless steel prices will rise further in the future.