Stainless steel mills have reduced their list prices for May in line with the decline in nickel prices and weak end-user demand in the global markets. China-based steel producer Baosteel announced this week that it will cut its list prices of austenitic grade stainless steel for the export markets by $100/mt as compared to the previous month, issuing offers for 304 grade stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness at $2,450/mt FOB.
The Turkish stainless steel market has also been negatively affected by this environment. Meanwhile, Far Eastern origin offers to Turkey for 304/2B stainless steel cold rolled coil (CRC) of 2.0 mm thickness are still at $2,500-2,650/mt CFR. While the summer weather has already arrived, the Turkish stainless steel market is anticipated to follow a sluggish trend in the next few months, and so Turkey's stainless steel import volume and average transaction prices are expected to decline starting in the current month.
Weekly price movements of different steel products in major markets can be viewed comparatively in the SteelOrbis Historical Steel Prices section. Market trends can thus be seen more clearly, while desired charts can be created and used in reports or presentations.