Chinese stainless steel prices slump despite recovering domestic demand

Stainless steel prices in China have plunged over the past week on growing inventory levels, although market participants were optimistic that domestic demand showed signs of improvement.

“It’s likely that Chinese prices are close to bottoming out because most companies have already resumed operations,” a trader in northern China said.
The lack of significant declines in raw material costs could also support stainless steel prices because it limited the discounts that steelmakers could provide, sources told Fastmarkets.
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel contract ended the trading session at $12,480-12,485 per tonne on Wednesday March 11, down $320 per tonne from $12,800-12,805 per tonne a week ago.
The price has been rangebound between $12,000-13,000 per tonne since February 18.
Domestic

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic, ex-whs China in the country’s major market of Wuxi was 12,600-13,600 yuan ($1,819-1,954) per tonne including value-added tax...