China’s domestic stainless steel market has mostly followed a stable trend during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have moved on a fluctuating trend in the past week, with prices closing slightly higher compared to one week earlier. On December 22, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $8,645/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 441,510 mt.
Domestic stainless prices have come under negative pressure from low demand during the past week. In addition, some traders have reduced their prices slightly in order to sell off products and bring in cash. However, generally traders have not cut their prices as they consider price cuts would not result in any significant improvement in buying activity. It is believed that just small fluctuations will be seen in domestic stainless steel prices in the coming week.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,800 | 1,512 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 5,900 | 910 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 11,900 | 1,836 | ↓100 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 11,400 | 1,759 | 0 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,500 | 1,003 | ↑50 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 6,200 | 957 | ↓100 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.48