As of August 16, Chinese domestic stainless steel prices have increased on week-on-week basis, though they have started to soften in the latter part of the past week.
In the past week, global nickel prices first moved upwards before later declining. On August 15, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,350/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 384,258 mt
Like nickel prices, domestic stainless steel prices first increased in the past week but then started to move back down, while they are still higher compared to one week earlier. Trading activity is on the slack side given the high levels of prices. Traders’ current inventories were mostly bought at relatively high prices. As for the coming week, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may fluctuate on a slightly soft trend under the influence of lower prices of raw material and nickel.
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,500 |
1,570 |
↑600 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
9,000 |
1,345 |
↑600 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
16,100 |
2,407 |
↑100 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
16,900 |
2,526 |
↑100 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
9,100 |
1,360 |
↑300 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
8,400 |
1,256 |
↑300 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.69