China’s domestic stainless steel prices have mostly fluctuated on a slightly soft trend during the past seven days.
Global nickel prices have rebounded significantly during the past week. On January 8, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $11,190/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 204,852 mt.
Despite the rise in nickel prices, domestic stainless steel prices in China have mostly softened slightly in the past week due to the ongoing slackness of trading activity, with downstream users still mainly maintaining a wait-and-see stance and reluctant to build up significant inventories. At the same time, prices of certain products showed greater resilience due to low levels of inventory. As for the week ahead, as the Chinese New Year holiday is approaching, downstream buyers may start building up their stocks, though increases in demand are likely to be slow rather than sharp. In these circumstances, it is believed that domestic stainless steel prices in the coming week may follow a stable trend, though with some slight downticks also possible.
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,000 |
1,464 |
0 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan/Lecong |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
8,900 |
1,303 |
0 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,150 |
2,218 |
↓50 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
15,250 |
2,233 |
↑50 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
8,050 |
1,179 |
↓50 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
8,200 |
1,201 |
↓100 |
16 percent VAT is included in the above prices.
$1 = RMB 6.83
