China's domestic
stainless steel market has indicated a soft trend in the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated on a downward trend during the past week. On June 3, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $19,075/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 283,986 mt.
The ongoing decline in nickel prices has led to the softening of the domestic
stainless steel market in the week in question, while slack trading activity has also exerted a negative influence on the market trend. The previous significant fluctuations in prices have contributed to the slowness of
stainless steel demand, while traders have been choosing to reduce their prices in order to attract more deals. However, since their low-cost inventories are almost sold out, traders are now increasingly inclined to keep their prices stable because of the higher costs of the materials they have in stock. It is believed that Chinese domestic
stainless steel prices will decline by smaller margins in the coming week and may soon return to a stable trend.