China’s domestic stainless steel prices have softened slightly on week-on-week basis.
Global nickel prices have fluctuated in a downward direction during the past week. On June 23, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $12,685/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 233,562 mt.
Overall trading activity in the local stainless steel market has been at normal levels. The soft trend of nickel prices contributed to minor declines in stainless steel futures prices at the beginning of last week, causing most traders to slightly reduce their quoted prices. With support from stainless producers trying to keep prices stable and some mills planning to decrease production volumes, stainless futures prices subsequently started to rebound, leading traders to increase their stainless prices slightly. Downstream demand has not yet been influenced by the offseason and so demand volume is still at normal levels, which also provides support for stainless steel prices. As for the week ahead, it is believed that stainless steel prices may remain stable or move up by a small margin.
|
Spec. - Grade (mm) |
Origin |
Price |
Weekly change |
||
|
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
||
|
202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
11,150 |
1,580 |
-200 |
-21 |
|
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
6,850 |
971 |
0 |
4 |
|
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
14,300 |
2,027 |
-50 |
2 |
|
304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
14,350 |
2,034 |
0 |
9 |
|
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
7,150 |
1,013 |
50 |
11 |
|
430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Taigang |
7,200 |
1,020 |
0 |
4 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 7.056