China’s domestic stainless steel prices have mostly indicated a downward trend during the past week.
Global nickel prices have moved down by a small margin slightly during the past week, having first increased and then declined. On December 1, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $16,225/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 241,482 mt.
Overall trading activity in China’s domestic stainless steel market has been weak due to the off-season and the winter weather. Prices of a few stainless steel products have moved upwards due to low market inventory. But with stainless steel producers choosing to decrease their quoted prices, most traders have had to follow the decreasing trend. As for the week ahead, given the ongoing strong support from nickel prices, stainless steel producers may have limited space for further price reductions. Nevertheless, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices may soften slightly due to the weakness of demand.
|
Spec. - Grade (mm) |
Origin |
Price |
Weekly change |
||
|
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
(RMB/mt) |
($/mt) |
||
|
202/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
11,100 |
1,692 |
0 |
4 |
|
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
7,000 |
1,067 |
0 |
2 |
|
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
15,000 |
2,286 |
-100 |
-10 |
|
304/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
15,150 |
2,309 |
-450 |
-64 |
|
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Taigang |
9,200 |
1,402 |
400 |
64 |
|
430/No.1 (3.0 x 1,500 x C) |
Taigang |
7,600 |
1,158 |
0 |
2 |
13 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.561