Posted on 27 Feb 2026
Yieh United Steel Corp (Yusco), Taiwan's largest stainless steel producer and headquartered in Kaohsiung, has decided to raise its stainless list prices for March sales in response to increased production costs and expectations for a recovery in demand, Mysteel Global learned.
For business discussions in March, Yusco is lifting its list prices of 304-grade hot-rolled and cold-rolled stainless products by TWD 2,000/tonne ($64/t), and those of 430-grade stainless products by TWD 1,000/t for local sales.
Yusco's decision was mainly to reflect higher stainless production costs, as prices of major stainless steelmaking raw materials such as nickel pig iron (NPI), ferromolybdenum and ferrochrome are hovering high.
Mysteel's assessment showed that as of February 25, the price of high-grade NPI with 7-13% nickel content in East China's Jiangsu stood at Yuan 1,070/mtu ($156/mtu) including delivery and the 13% VAT, rising by Yuan 5/mtu from one month earlier.
Global nickel prices have also stayed high, though these have retreated slightly compared to the one month ago. On February 25, the three-month nickel futures price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $18,085/t, still at a high level despite the on-month fall of $437/t, according to the exchange's data.
Indonesia's approved production quota for nickel ore in 2026 may be much lower than the tonnage actually allocated in 2025, a possibility that is raising market concerns over nickel ore supply and lending some support to nickel prices, as reported.
In parallel, market participants expect that stainless steel demand may recover in March with the end of long holiday in major stainless consumer markets. Meanwhile, the implementation of an export license system for stainless steel exports by China may reduce the influx of low-priced stainless products competing in Taiwan's market and so improve local mills' competitiveness.
Besides Yusco, another leading stainless producer headquartered in Kaohsiung, Tang Eng Iron Works, has adopted the same pricing policy, raising its list prices for 304-grade stainless HRC and CRC also by TWD 2,000/t for sales in March, according to a local market source.
Source:Mysteel Global
