China's domestic stainless steel market has mostly followed a declining trend during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have moved on a soft trend in the past week. On March 14, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,230mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 384,522 mt.
Lower nickel prices have contributed to the downward trend of stainless steel prices in China in the past week, while downstream demand has weakened, with buyers waiting for even lower prices. Trading activity is currently sluggish, while market inventories have increased slightly. As for the coming week, it is believed that, with nickel prices expected to fluctuate around the $10,000/mt mark, domestic stainless steel prices will be mostly stable, with some minor downticks also possible.
Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 10,300 | 1,491 | ↓100 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,600 | 1,389 | ↓200 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 16,700 | 2,417 | ↓400 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 17,150 | 2,482 | ↓100 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 9,000 | 1,302 | ↓100 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 9,300 | 1,346 | 0 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.91