Posted on 04 Jan 2024
Chinese spot prices of 304-grade stainless steel retreated over December 26 2023-January 2, according to Mysteel's assessment. The bearish views among many stainless traders regarding stainless prices in the near term led them to cut their offers moderately, market sources shared, saying these traders were concerned that the prices may drop deeper afterward.
The spot price of 304/2B 2mm stainless cold-rolled coil (CRC) in Wuxi, a core stainless trading hub in East China's Jiangsu, slid to Yuan 14,300/tonne ($2,001/t) in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT on January 2, down by Yuan 50/t on week, Mysteel's tracking showed.
Meanwhile, the spot price of 304/No.1 5mm stainless hot-rolled coil (HRC) in Wuxi was Yuan 100/t lower on week at Yuan 13,250/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT on January 2.
The most-traded stainless contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for February's delivery, which reflected most investors' views on stainless prices during the next month, closed the daytime trading session lower at Yuan 13,830/t on January 2, down by Yuan 210/t from the settlement price on December 26 2023.
In response to the weakening futures, many stainless traders clipped their offering prices of 304-grade products, a Shanghai-based market watcher said.
Also, these traders worried about the risks of retail stocks of stainless steel accumulating in the short term, due to the high production among stainless steelmakers against sluggish demand from downstream users, the source added.
Mysteel's monitoring of the 43 Chinese steelmakers it samples showed that their production of 300-series stainless steel grew by 5% on month in December 2023.
On the other hand, though the total stocks of 300-series stainless CRC and HRC piled at commercial warehouses in Wuxi and Foshan in South China's Guangdong under Mysteel's weekly survey thinned further to 440,231 tonnes on December 24 2023, the on-week fall narrowed to a small 0.6% compared to the prior week's 4.4%.
Source:Mysteel Global
