During the past seven days, China’s domestic stainless steel prices first increased but then started to decline.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated on a downward trend during the past week. On September 22, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $14,585/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 236,382 mt.
Due to the downtrend of nickel prices, traders of stainless steel in China mostly started to hold a negative view of the market prospects during the past week and became willing to reduce their quoted prices in order to close more deals. However, the support from stainless producers’ prices remains strong and so the decrease in traders’ prices has been relatively small, especially as regards those products for which inventories are low. As for the week ahead, considering the weak trend of nickel prices but also the support from stainless steel producers’ prices, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may fluctuate on a slight downtrend.
|
Spec. - Grade (mm) |
Origin |
Price |
Weekly change |
||
|
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
||
|
202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
11,100 |
1,633 |
0 |
-4 |
|
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
6,900 |
1,015 |
-100 |
-17 |
|
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
15,650 |
2,302 |
-50 |
-13 |
|
304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
16,000 |
2,353 |
200 |
24 |
|
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
8,000 |
1,177 |
50 |
5 |
|
430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Taigang |
7,300 |
1,074 |
0 |
-3 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.799