China’s domestic stainless steel prices have mostly indicated a stable trend during the past week.
Global nickel prices have moved down slightly week on week, having first declined and then started to rebound. On July 21, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $13,455/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 235,158 mt.
Overall trading activity in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market has been sluggish in the past week due to the influence of the rainy weather and the summer offseason. The recent rises in nickel prices have started to provide support for stainless steel prices. Also, low market inventory levels have caused traders to be unwilling to reduce their stainless steel quotations. As for the week ahead, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may just indicate minor fluctuations.
Spec. - Grade (mm) |
Origin |
Price |
Weekly change |
||
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
||
202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
11,000 |
1,578 |
0 |
6 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
6,700 |
961 |
0 |
4 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
14,500 |
2,080 |
0 |
8 |
304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
14,300 |
2,051 |
0 |
8 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
7,350 |
1,054 |
0 |
4 |
430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Taigang |
7,300 |
1,047 |
100 |
18 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.972