9 January 2023 – Tough contract negotiations between EU steel producers and end consumers already at the beginning of the year. A game of press releases, questionable empirical findings, and toxic and dangerous advice with only one goal in mind. Nickel remains stormy – the background and the outlook for January 2023. And the prices for scrap, nickel and molybdenum continue to rise.
Tough battle between steel producers and consumers
Negotiations between the EU steel producers on the one hand and the large consumers, especially the car manufacturers, on the other hand for the coming months have begun with hard fighting. And since billions of euros are at stake, (almost) any means will do in the end.
The relevant industry media are already being abusively harnessed to the contract cart and the previous view of the market is simply being twisted to suit the situation. Moreover, empirical statements are quickly made here, which, according to Winston Churchill, are best falsified themselves.
“No matter in which area it has been shown time and again that quick decisions are an essential building block for success,” said Thorsten Gerber, CEO Gerber Group today. He went on to say: “Wait and see, as reported by so-called independent industry media, is toxic advice to the buying public. The question here, as always: Qui bono, for whose benefit? Exclusively that of the European steel producers.”
How prices are made with press releases – Nickel Outlook January 2023
The best example of the influence of press releases on prices was recently observed again in nickel, which fell last week under the pressure of empty reports. And, as expected, today, Monday, it was already up by more than 4%. You can read the background here in our first Stainless Cappuccino – Nickel Outlook January 2023: “It remains stormy”.
Nickel, Molybdenum, Scrap – What will be important today
Nickel stabilised and up again
The Asian nickel futures have stabilised and have partly risen again today. On the Chinese spot market in particular, the price of nickel has risen again by almost 3%. On the LME, nickel is also rising again today, but remains volatile.
Molybdenum further up
For molybdenum prices there is currently only one direction: further up. Here, the metric ton is at the equivalent of more than $ 70,000 or an increase of more than 22% compared to the previous week. This should have a clear impact on stainless steel grades 316 and 316L, for example.
Prices for steel scrap rise
The prices for steel scrap have increased by more than 8% in the past week. It is currently reported that low availability is an important price driver for many stainless steel scrap grades. 304 and 316 are particularly affected.
Latest news
- Nickel Outlook January 2023: “It remains stormy”
- Stainless steel exports increase and EU steel lobby is unhappy
- Prices for Italian stainless steel scrap rise
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
