Nippon Steel: prices steady, short interest falls

Nippon Steel froze April stainless-steel prices after six straight monthly increases in its 300-series products. (news.metal.com) Shanghai Metals Market reported on April 12 that Nippon Steel left April prices unchanged from March. The same report said 300-series prices had climbed for six months since October 2025, with cumulative increases of about $410 a ton. (news.metal.com) The pause came as nickel costs eased. Shanghai Metals Market said nickel was down about 2% month over month to roughly $7.80 a pound, while chromium costs for 400-series stainless steel stayed near $1.60 a pound for a fifth straight month. (news.metal.com) Three-hundred-series stainless steel is the nickel-heavy family used in common grades such as 304, and nickel is often the biggest moving part in the surcharge buyers pay. Ryerson says nickel can account for 55% to 65% of 300-series surcharge swings. (nipponsteel.com, mktg.ryerson.com) At the same time, bearish bets against Nippon Steel’s United States-traded depositary receipts dropped sharply. MarketBeat said short interest in Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal’s over-the-counter shares fell to 60,793 shares on March 31 from 131,197 on March 15, a decline of 53.7%. (marketbeat.com) MarketBeat said the average daily trading volume was 972,984 shares, leaving the days-to-cover ratio at 0.1 day. That means short sellers, as a group, could theoretically buy back those borrowed shares in a fraction of a trading session. (marketbeat.com) The short-interest data tracks the American depositary receipt, not stainless-steel contract pricing in Japan, so the two signals measure different things. One reflects mill pricing tied to raw-material costs; the other reflects trader positioning in Nippon Steel’s United States-listed security. (marketbeat.com, news.metal.com) Nippon Steel is also operating with a larger global footprint after closing its acquisition of United States Steel on June 18, 2025, and arranging permanent financing in March 2026. The company said on March 18 that it completed a financing package tied to the U.S. Steel purchase. (ussteel.com, nipponsteel.com) For April, the simpler read is that Nippon Steel stopped raising stainless prices when nickel stopped climbing, while short sellers cut back hard on the stock. Both moves point to a month of less momentum than the one before. (news.metal.com, marketbeat.com)