It was rumored that Russian nickel ore producer Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) will cut production by 10% next year, leading to a surge in international nickel prices, which also inspired Taiwan's stainless steel mills’ share price to soar yesterday (December 21).

Tang Eng Iron Works Co., Ltd., one of the main stainless steel manufacturers in Taiwan, said that mills have room to reflect surged costs of raw materials, but the current market demand is not very strong, in order to take into account the competition of downstream buyers, it would like to only slightly raise prices and hoped to create a win-win situation.

Wire rod manufacturer Yieh Hsing Enterprise Co., Ltd. whether the price will rise in January next year will still depend on the final determination of its upstream mill steel mill Yieh United Steel Corp. (Yusco) on the overall market demand situation.