China’s domestic stainless steel market has mostly continued to follow a decreasing trend during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated on a slight downtrend in the past week. On June 13, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $8,800mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 375,822 mt.
Given the slightly soft trend of nickel prices and the ongoing weakness of demand due to the offseason, China’s domestic stainless steel market has mostly moved in a downward direction in the past week, with both producers and traders reducing their prices. Under pressure due to greater tightness of liquidity in the mid-year period, traders in particular have been willing to lower their stainless steel prices in order to attract more business. As for the coming week, it is thought that the domestic stainless market will continue to follow a soft trend.
| Specification (mm) | Region | Steel plant/origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 8,600 | 1,265 | ↓200 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Foshan/Lecong | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 7,100 | 1,044 | ↓200 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 12,700 | 1,868 | ↓500 |
| 304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 13,800 | 2,029 | ↓500 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Taigang | 7,600 | 1,118 | 0 |
| 430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Wuxi | Krupp | 7,900 | 1,162 | 0 |
17 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.80