Posted on 14 Feb 2025
China's 304-grade stainless cold-rolled coil (CRC) prices eased during February 5-12, primarily in response to weakening sentiment in the stainless futures market.
As of February 12, Mysteel assessed the price of Hongwang's 304-grade stainless CRC in Wuxi, a major stainless steel production hub in East China's Jiangsu province, at Yuan 13,050/tonne ($1,788.2/t) in-warehouse, including tax. This marked a slight week-on-week drop of Yuan 50/t from the previous week.
In contrast, Tsingshan's 304-grade stainless hot-rolled coil (HRC) price remained stable at Yuan 12,550/t in-warehouse, including tax, as of the same day.
Market sentiment appeared stronger at the start of the week, as stainless futures had shown some improvement by the end of last week and encouraged major stainless steel producers to raise their offering prices on Monday for sales of 304-grade stainless CRC and HRC.
For instance, on Monday Tsingshan Group raised the list price of Hongwang 304 CRC by Yuan 250/t, setting this at Yuan 12,950/t – higher than the pre-Chinese New Year price, Mysteel Global noted.
However, this optimism was short-lived, especially in the derivatives market. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-traded March stainless steel contract on Wednesday dropped by a significant Yuan 360/t from last Friday to end the daytime trading session at Yuan 13,040/t.
The decline in futures prices has dampened market sentiment, leading to quieter trading activity throughout the week, according to market insiders.
"China's spot stainless steel market saw little to no orders for 304-grade spot or futures stocks, especially after Hongwang raised its prices," said a Wuxi-based stainless steel trader.
As a result, total stocks of austenitic stainless steel flats at the 89 commercial warehouses across six Chinese cities tracked by Mysteel surged by 5.4% week-on-week to reach 709,600 tonnes as of February 13.
Source:Mysteel Global
