China’s domestic stainless steel market has seen stable movement as well as slight upticks in prices during the past week.
Global nickel prices are now slightly higher compared to one week earlier. On September 1, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $9,750/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 453,894 mt.
In the past week, the LME three-month nickel price first following a rising trend and then moved on a soft trend, while the prices are now slightly higher week on week. Chinese domestic stainless steel prices have mostly indicated stable movement in the past seven days, with slight increases in prices seen for certain products. Overall trading activity is still at low levels. Most traders are inclined to keep their prices stable for now, but with prices of certain products moving up in line with nickel prices. As for the coming week, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices in China may move mostly on a sideways trend, with some minor downticks also possible due to low demand and the soft trend seen in nickel prices in recent days.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,800 | 1,541 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 6,450 | 1,014 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 12,400 | 1,950 | 0 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 12,100 | 1.903 | ↑100 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 6,100 | 959 | ↑100 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 6,000 | 943 | ↑300 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.36