China’s domestic stainless steel market has moved on a strong upward trend during the past week.
Global nickel prices have also risen strongly compared to one week ago. On August 22, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $11,415mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 385,536 mt.
With the support of higher nickel prices, Chinese domestic stainless steel prices have increased significantly in the past seven days, with the sharpest increases seen for 304 series product prices. Overall trading activity is weak due to the hot weather conditions and the continuing uptrend of prices. Supply volumes have decreased recently due to environmental measures, providing additional support for stainless steel prices. However, market sources have said that supply volumes will increase in the coming week, which may slow down the upward movement of the market. For the week ahead, it is thought that domestic stainless steel prices may increase further but by smaller margins.
|
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
|
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
11,000 |
1,652 |
↑500 |
|
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
9,500 |
1,426 |
↑500 |
|
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
17,200 |
2,583 |
↑1,100 |
|
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
17,600 |
2,643 |
↑700 |
|
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
9,500 |
1,426 |
↑400 |
|
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
8,500 |
1,276 |
↑100 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.66