China's domestic stainless steel market has continued to move on a mostly upward trend in the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have followed a fluctuating trend in the past week, with prices down very slightly on week-on-week basis. On October 18, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,410/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 361,284 mt.
Overall trading activity in the local Chinese stainless steel market has increased after the recent National Day Holiday, providing support for increases in prices. Furthermore, inventories have been on the short side, which is also a positive factor for the price trend. In the past few days, however, some downstream buyers have started to maintain a wait-and-see stance amid the higher prices. As for the coming week, it is believed that there is still room for further price rises, though increase margins will likely be smaller as supply improves.
Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,500 | 1,414 | ↓300 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 7,300 | 1,086 | ↑300 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,800 | 2,054 | ↑300 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,600 | 2,024 | ↑300 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 7,450 | 1,109 | ↑250 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 6,600 | 982 | ↑200 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.74