Japanese stainless steel mill Nisshin Seiko has seen its purchase costs of zinc, nickel and molybdenum rise by JPY 10 million in the current fiscal year 2006 from last year. Nisshin Seiko’s current financial year runs from April 2006 to March 2007. The company officials said they based their cost forecast on zinc at USD 3,000/mt and nickel at USD 8/lb, the monthly average prices in April 2006. Out of the JPY 10 billion rise in metal purchase costs, JPY 6 billion is attributed to zinc and JPY 4 billion to nickel and molybdenum, they said. Material costs would also rise because of increased metal consumption as Nisshin Seiko expects increased stainless output in fiscal 2006. In fiscal 2005, the company produced 590,000mt of stainless steel. The company officials declined to estimate its stainless output for fiscal 2006. Nisshin Seiko forecasts stainless steel sales to increase by 13.8% to JPY 165 billion in fiscal 2006, but warned that profit levels may fall by 25% to JPY 12 billion.
