China's domestic stainless steel market has mostly been stable in the past two weeks, though with some slight price decreases observed for 304 series products.
Global nickel prices have moved on a fluctuating trend during the past two weeks and are now down slightly compared to two weeks ago. On October 7, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $16,950/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 364,248 mt.
With China's National Day Holiday just over, most traders in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market are keeping their prices stable and are maintaining a wait-and-see stance. The abovementioned slight price decrease for 304 series products were mainly seen before the holiday as traders wished to increase their sales volumes near the end of month, though not much improvement was seen in sales volumes. However, it is believed that the trading volume in the market may increase slightly with the holiday period now over. Nickel prices are still characterized by some softness and most traders are not very confident about the future prospects for the market. Overall, it is thought that China's domestic stainless market will mainly continue its stable trend in the coming week, though also with some minor decreases.