NOTES ON THE STAINLESS STEEL MARKET

Until the strike broke out at the mines of the International Nickel Company in Canada, in July 1969, there had been relative stability in the stainless steel market in this country for many years. Before the Iron & Steel Board was abolished, its price list had been accepted as the ruling one; later, after the British Steel Corporation was formed in 1967, its list was used. However, the nickel strike put an end to all that. By the time the strike ended the price of nickel had reached, momentarily, the dizzy height of £7,000/ton. Mills were quoting 40 week deliveries for stainless steel, often tongue in cheek, as they waited for the strike to end and raw material prices to come down.