Due to the increase in the price of nickel, the stainless steel industry is trying to cut nickel usage in its production process. According to Ian Christmas, secretary-general of the International Institute of Iron and Steel, “Stainless steel producers are pushing very hard to replace austenitic steel with ferrotic steel which has a very small amount of nickel” and is mainly chromium-based, he said. Nickel accounts for more than 60% of the cost of making austenitic steel, also known as 300 series of stainless steel, the most widely used and manufactured high grade metal. The price of nickel rose to a record high of USD 51,800pt last year, but lost around 50% of its value in the following three months. Currently the three-months nickel price on the London Metal Exchange MNI3 trades around USD 33,000pt after the high and volatile price triggered production cutbacks from the stainless industry. “The price of nickel has pushed a lot of innovation not only in stainless steel business but also among its customers,” Mr Christmas said. “There are certain applications where austenitic steel is a fantastic material but increasingly there are many applications where ferrotic material is good,” he said. The rustproof stainless steel, used in products from forks to fighter jets, gets its unique properties by the addition of chrome. The price of high-carbon ferrochrome was quoted at a record USD 2.40/2.60 per lb on world markets last week, up 30% from the start of the year. But Mr Christmas played down that cost. “The price of chrome is nothing like the price of nickel,” he said.
