European and US mills implemented basis advances for most products due to growing sales volumes, mainly as a result of restocking throughout the supply chain. End-user demand, however, remained slow.
Rising raw material costs are likely to result in austenitic stainless steel selling figures increasing over the next few months.
Buying activity
Buying activity is predicted to improve in the short term, helping world mills to apply further price advances. However, the slow economic recovery could limit end-user demand and restrict producers' attempts to achieve further significant hikes.
