China’s domestic stainless steel market has mostly moved on a decreasing trend during the past week.
Global nickel prices have indicated a fluctuating upward movement in past week. On September 20, the three-month nickel price at the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $10,310/mt, while LME nickel inventory on the same date totaled 365,784 mt.
Although three-month nickel prices have increased during the past week, domestic stainless steel prices have moved downward, since the volume of supplies have been increasing while demand is still on the weak side. Also during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in China on September 15-17, trading activity in the market was very slack and traders mostly chose to reduce their prices in order to conclude deals. As for the coming week, it is believed that domestic stainless prices in China will continue downward movement since no recovery is expected for demand side.
Specification (mm) |
Region |
Steel plant/origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
202/No.1 (3.0 x 120 x C) |
Foshan |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
10,000 |
1,499 |
↓200 |
201/No.1 (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Foshan |
Guangzhou Lianzhong |
7,000 |
1,049 |
↓100 |
304/2B (1.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
13,450 |
2,016 |
↓100 |
304/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
13,200 |
1,979 |
↓100 |
430/2B (3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Taigang |
7,200 |
1,079 |
↓50 |
430/No.1(3.0 x 1,219 x C) |
Wuxi |
Krupp |
6,500 |
975 |
0 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 17 percent VAT.
$1 = RMB 6.67