China’s domestic stainless steel market has mainly moved on a stable trend in the past seven days, though with slight downticks seen in prices of certain products.
Global nickel prices have indicated some minor decreases during the past week. On February 2, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $8,400/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 444,126 mt.
Activity in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market has mostly ground to a halt, with transaction volumes close to zero. Nevertheless, some traders have continued to offer discounts in order to attract business. The domestic stainless steel market is expected to follow a stable trend in the coming days and during the Chinese New Year holiday (February 8-14).
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,800 | 1,489 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 5,800 | 881 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 11,700 | 1,779 | ↓50 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 11,100 | 1,687 | 0 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,700 | 1,018 | 0 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 6,100 | 927 | 0 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.58