China’s domestic stainless steel prices have followed a soft trend for the main product types during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have edged down during the past week. On May 19, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $18,780/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 276,096 mt.
Overall trading activity in the domestic stainless steel market has increased after prices declined and is now considered to be at normal levels. Prices are also back to normal levels after previous strong increases, with softer nickel prices causing prices of 304 series products to decrease again. As for the week ahead, it is believed that stainless steel prices may just indicate small fluctuations.
| Spec. - Grade (mm) | Origin | Price | Weekly change | ||
| (RMB/mt) | ($/mt) | (RMB/mt) | ($/mt) | ||
| 202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 12,400 | 1,813 | -50 | -7 |
| 201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Guangzhou Lianzhong | 8,350 | 1,221 | -50 | -7 |
| 304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) | Taigang | 15,900 | 2,325 | -600 | -87 |
| 304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Taigang | 15,200 | 2,222 | -550 | -79 |
| 430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) | Taigang | 7,600 | 1,111 | 0 | 0 |
| 430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) | Taigang | 6,850 | 1,001 | 0 | 0 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.840