As of April 11, China’s domestic stainless steel market has declined slightly on week-on-week basis.
In the past week, global nickel prices first moved down and then started to increase later in the week, with prices now higher compared to one week ago. On April 10, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $13,695/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 315,186 mt.
Overall trading activity in the domestic stainless market was at low levels before the Tomb-Sweeping Festival (April 5-6), while after the holiday supply volumes have increased but demand has remained weak. In these circumstances, most traders were willing to reduce prices in order to conclude more deals. However, stainless steel prices have shown signs of minor upticks at the end of the week, with some very slight improvement also seen in trading activity at the same time. It is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may follow a stable trend in the week ahead, with slight upticks possible in prices of certain products.
|
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
|
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
9,250 |
1,473 |
↓150 |
|
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
7,750 |
1,234 |
↓150 |
|
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,150 |
2,412 |
↓150 |
|
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,700 |
2,500 |
↓50 |
|
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
9,050 |
1,441 |
↓100 |
|
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
8,700 |
1,385 |
0 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.28