The Chinese stainless steel market has generally moved on a stable trend in the past week, though upticks were also seen for certain grades amid shortages of stocks.
Global nickel prices appeared to have bottomed out during the past week and are now up slightly compared to one week ago. On March 13, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $17,130/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 161,046 mt.
Developments at China's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are not expected to exert any strong impact on the domestic stainless steel market. Meanwhile, in the coming period demand in the market is expected to improve and prices may eventually start to rebound.