Taiwan's leading stainless steel mills will announce the new prices for May this week. Due to weak demand, it is not easy for the mills to decide the new prices.

LME nickel future and spot prices have remained stable at US$24,000/ton and even boosted to US$25,000/ton since the middle of April. Although the increased nickel prices were expected to support prices for May, market participants indicated that demand will be still the first priority to impact steel prices.

Apart from that, steel mills recently purchased raw materials and semi-finished products at higher prices, so the manufacturing cost was relatively high.

As a result, the mills have difficulty deciding on prices for May.