China’s domestic stainless steel market has seen decreases in 304 series product prices in the past seven days, while prices of other products have moved sideways.
Global nickel prices have continued to move on a downward trend during the past week. On November 10, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $9,505/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 418,716 mt.
Lower nickel prices have contributed to the soft trend of 304 series product prices in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market in the past week. Traders generally hold a negative view of the future prospects for the market. Coming closer to the end of the year, traders are under pressure to conclude sales and so most of them are offering discounts during actual transactions. As for the coming week, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices will continue to follow a soft trend.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,800 | 1,541 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 6,200 | 975 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 12,250 | 1,926 | ↓150 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 11,800 | 1,855 | ↓200 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,250 | 983 | 0 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 6,500 | 1,022 | 0 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.36