China’s domestic stainless steel market has mostly indicated an upward trend in the past seven days.
Global nickel prices declined in the first part of the given week, subsequently rebounding on October 24 and 25, but have decreased compared to one week ago. On October 25, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,235/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 362,424 mt.
Overall trading activity in the local Chinese stainless steel market has been slightly slacker than in the previous week as market participants have become more cautious about concluding purchases after the continuous rises recorded in stainless steel prices. Demand in the market is currently at low-to-medium levels. However, stainless steel producers and traders have still been seeking to push their prices up. Meanwhile, Chinese large-scale flat stainless steel producers produced 2.0593 million mt of stainless crude steel in September, down 0.68 percent month on month and up 16.6 percent year on year. It is estimated that this output will likely reach 2.10 million mt in October. Due to the corrections in global nickel prices, the increased supply in the stainless steel market and the loss of upward momentum after the previous price rises, it is thought that stainless steel prices in the Chinese domestic market will move sideways in the coming week.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,700 | 1,433 | ↑200 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 7,600 | 1,123 | ↑100 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 14,300 | 2,112 | ↑200 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 14,300 | 2,112 | ↑500 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 8,200 | 1,211 | ↑400 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 7,200 | 1,064 | ↑300 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.77