China’s domestic stainless steel prices have mostly softened in the past seven days.
On March 8, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $80,000/mt, with trading remaining closed since then, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 75,012 mt.
Domestic stainless steel prices in China are mostly back to the same levels seen before the abnormal fluctuations of LME nickel prices. Overall trading activity has been very low since most downstream buyers have been maintaining a wait-and-see stance and are waiting for the LME to start trading again. Stainless future prices have risen, providing support for increases in 400 series product prices. Most regions of China have been impacted by another spread of the coronavirus, with transportation also impacted, and so downstream inventories have remained at low levels. As for the week ahead, considering the uncertainty surrounding the restart of trading at the LME, it is believed that stainless steel prices may just fluctuate slightly.
Spec. - Grade (mm) |
Origin |
Price |
Weekly change |
||
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
||
202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
15,650 |
2,453 |
0 |
-24 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,800 |
1,693 |
0 |
-17 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
21,900 |
3,433 |
-800 |
-160 |
304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
20,800 |
3,260 |
-2,800 |
-475 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
9,900 |
1,552 |
100 |
1 |
430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Taigang |
9,200 |
1,442 |
300 |
33 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.380
