US  stainless  sheet  prices  moved up to start April as mills lowered base price discounts and 

demand increased, sources said Monday. 

North  American  Stainless kicked off the latest round of price hikes February 28, announcing 

it  would be raising prices for all series 200, series 300 and type 430 cold-rolled stainless coil 

and  sheet  grades, effective  with shipments April 1. The increase, which was followed by ATI 

Allegheny  Ludlum, Outokumpu Coils  America  and  AK  Steel, was to be achieved through a 

reduction in functional  discounts of two percentage points. Overall, NAS expected the discou

nt reduction to raise cold-rolled stainless flats base transaction prices 5%-7%. 

"We  have seen a solid incoming orders from both manufacturers and distributors," a service 

center  source  said, adding  March  was a record month for their operation. "Demand seems 

healthy, while inventories are lean." 

Sources  put  current  lead  times  from  US  stainless  mills in the range of five to eight weeks,

depending on the alloy. 

"We're definitely seeing strong demand," another service center source said. 

US  stainless  flats  surcharges  for  series-300  grades  will  also  be  up  for  April  deliveries,

according  to  raw material levies published by domestic mills in late March. NAS, ATI, AK and 

Outokumpu  set  surcharges for Types 304 and 316 at 60.12-60.17 cents/lb and 76.02-76.09 

cents/lb, respectively. Type 304 stainless is up from 59.29-59.34 cents/lb in March, while Typ

e 316 is up from 73.31-73.36 cents/lb. 

In the near term, stainless sheet base pricing seems firm at current levels, source said. 

"I  don't  see  mills  cutting  deals," the  first  service  center  source  said. S&P  Global Platts 

on  Monday  assessed Type  304  stainless sheet transaction prices at 120-123 cents/lb, up 

from 116-118  cents/lb  in the previous month. Type 316 stainless was assessed at 156-160 

cents/lb, up from 147-149 cents/lb. 

Type 430 stainless sheet transaction prices were assessed at 93-96 cents/lb, up from 90-91 

cents.