The last quarter of the year has started with an encouraging sign for stainless steel market: after months of decrease, the trend of the value is in fact stabilizing and it has slightly risen for 304, from 979 €/ton a 989 €/ton.

This evolution can be mostly explained as a result of nickel's same trend, whose price in recent years has reached historically low levels: after a peak of about 21.000  $/ton in spring 2014, its share at the beginning of 2015 had already fallen 5.000 $/ton, while at present is about 10.500 $/ton.

The fall in prices has long interested the commodity market in general - as the iron ore fell to its lowest in over a decade at 44.59 $/ton in the spot market of China - and the market of energy sources, that occurred following the simultaneous collapse of the value of oil, gas and coal (source: Il Sole 24Ore).

In this context the current nickel surharge stabilization, spotted for some weeks,  is still uncertain in the medium and long term and indeed leaves the possibility of a rebound in prices in the coming months.