China’s domestic stainless steel market has seen both stable movement and slight downticks in prices during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated on an upward trend in the past week. On January 10, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,615mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 371,964 mt.
With the Chinese New Year holiday approaching, overall trading activity in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market has been at very low levels in the past week, while traders have been willing to offer discounts. While prices of steelmaking raw materials have decreased slightly. low market inventories provide some support for market prices. It is thought that traders may reduce their stainless steel prices in the coming week in order to conclude deals ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,900 | 1,429 | 0 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 9,800 | 1,414 | 0 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 17,200 | 2,482 | ↓200 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 17,150 | 2,475 | 0 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 9,500 | 1,371 | ↓100 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 9,100 | 1,313 | 0 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.93