China’s domestic stainless steel market mostly remained stable though some stainless steel products’ prices increased as compare to last week.
Global nickel prices showed an upward trend during the past week. On July 6, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $9,705/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 376,848 mt.
LME three month nickel price showed a fluctuating upward tendency during past week. The strong performance of nickel influenced the domestic stainless mainstream products’ price, which also showed a upward trend as well. Most traders choose to follow the increase tendency but some others also just maintained their price and are willing to sell to reduce their inventories. As nickel prices are expected to remain as the key factor influence the stainless price, experts believe the after a strong performance, the nickel price may slightly decrease and domestic stainless prices may move sideways in the week ahead.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 10,300 | 1,549 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 6,400 | 962 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,050 | 1,917 | ↑350 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 12,600 | 1,842 | ↑300 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,500 | 977 | 0 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 7,100 | 1,068 | 0 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.69