As of November 5, China’s domestic stainless steel prices indicate slight changes on week-on-week basis, having decreased in the first half of the past week, while rebounding in recent days.
Global nickel prices have rebounded slightly during the past week. On December 4, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $11,140/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 212,796 mt.
In the past seven days, overall trading activity has remained at low levels in the Chinese domestic stainless steel market. Prices moved down in the first part of the week due to the slackness of demand, while they rebounded later due to increases in nickel prices and the positive outcome of the China-US talks in Buenos Aires at the weekend. However, demand in the market has continued to slacken further amid colder weather conditions. As for the week ahead, considering the off-season and the approach of the year-end, most traders are under pressure from tightness of funds. In this context, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may move sideways, with some slight decreases also possible.
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,000 |
1,458 |
0 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
8,900 |
1,297 |
0 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,500 |
2,259 |
↓100 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,750 |
2,296 |
↑50 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
8,200 |
1,195 |
↓50 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
8,300 |
1,210 |
0 |
16 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.86
