China’s domestic stainless steel market has seen both minor increases and decreases in prices during the past week.
Global nickel prices have rebounded during the past week following previous decreases. On July 14, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $11,620/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 453,006 mt.
In the Chinese domestic stainless market, some prices have followed the rebounding trend of nickel prices, while other prices have been catching up with the previous decreases in nickel prices. Overall trading activity in the market is still very sluggish. At present, nickel prices are the main factor influencing stainless steel prices in the domestic market. It is believed that local stainless steel prices will following a slight uptrend in the coming week.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 10,500 | 1,691 | ↑100 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 7,000 | 1,127 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,500 | 2,174 | ↑100 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,000 | 2,093 | ↓100 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,600 | 1,063 | 0 |
| 430/BA (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 5,700 | 918 | ↓100 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.21