China's demand for stainless steel will grow steadily

China’s demand for stainless steel will grow steadily

China's demand for stainless steel is expected to grow steadily. The growth rate of stainless steel demand has shown decline on the back of government's macro-economic control policy. It is reported that the growth rate of stainless steel demand will be 10% before 2005 and 5% after. Moreover, the production quota of austenite stainless steels will be reduced to 60-65% and the quota of ferritic stainless steels will be enhanced to 30-35%. The demand for ferroalloys such as ferrochrome and ferronickel has increased fairly, with the growth of stainless steel production. In the first half of 2004, the imports of ferrochrome accounted for 81.9% of the 255'500 tons of imported ferroalloys. In the aforementioned period, nickel imports reached 14'250 tons with a rise of 126%. Meanwhile, stainless steel market maintained stable level and transaction prices have shown a little change at Foshan market in China last week. The list prices for Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co. Ltd (ZPSS) and Baoxin's cold rolled stainless steel sheets were about RMB 1'600-1'800/t. The prices were also RMB 1'300-1'500/t for Taiyun Steel's products. According market rumours, local producers will probably raise their factory prices in November.