Although Yieh United Steel Corp. (Yusco), one of the major upstream stainless steel producers in Taiwan has announced to keep its November stainless steel flat product prices unchanged, Walsin Lihwa, the major stainless steel wire rod makers in Taiwan have still decided to hike stainless steel wire rod prices for November due to the rising nickel prices. Walsin Lihwa said the company's input costs have surged by US$30/ton due to rising nickel and power prices. Thus, it decided to hike its stainless steel wire rod prices by NT$3,000/ton for the Taiwanese domestic market and US$30/ton for export markets. Industry sources said that the price rise may lead Walsin Lihwa to face fierce price competition against cheap imports. It's known that the prices of stainless steel wire rod imports are at around US$2,350~US$2,400/ton in the Taiwanese market.