China's domestic stainless steel market has mostly moved on an upward trend during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated on a soft trend during the past week. On August 16, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,255/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 373,992 mt.
Despite the soft trend of nickel prices, domestic stainless steel prices in China have generally increased during the past week. This is mainly because traders are holding on to their inventories, while producers' production volumes have been limited by environmental measures. Meanwhile, trading activity is very slack and downstream users are not so willing to pay the higher price levels. As for the coming week, however, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may continue to rise due to the low volume of supply.
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,300 |
1,554 |
0 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
6,900 |
1,041 |
↑500 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
13,400 |
2,021 |
0 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
13,250 |
1,998 |
↑250 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
7,150 |
1,078 |
↑50 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
6,300 |
950 |
↓200 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.63