China's domestic stainless steel market has continued to decrease during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have remained on a slight downtrend during the past week. On May 16, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $9,120mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 380,250 mt.
Domestic stainless steel prices have declined in the past week amid slack demand and softening nickel prices, though the decreases in stainless steel prices have been smaller compared to the previous week as producers are less willing to reduce prices. Traders are keeping their inventories at low levels amid the ongoing downward price trend. As for the coming week, it is believed that the domestic stainless steel market will indicate a more stable trend, though with further slight reductions in prices still possible.
Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,300 | 1,350 | ↓100 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 7,900 | 1,147 | ↓100 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,900 | 2,017 | ↓100 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 15,800 | 2,293 | ↓200 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 7,900 | 1,147 | ↓50 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 8,000 | 1,161 | ↓200 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.89