Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia continued to soften over the past week due to thin buying interest and sellers trying to destock, even as market participants in Taiwan took a breather due to a string of public holidays on the island.
Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless 2mm trimmed cold-rolled coil was $2,080-2,130 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the week ended Wednesday April 4, down $10-50 per tonne from a week earlier.Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless trimmed hot-rolled sheet was $2,040-2,140 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the same period, down $10-30 per tonne week on week.China-origin stainless untrimmed CRC were booked at $2,050-2,100 per tonne cif over the past week, sources said. This range is equivalent to around $2,080-2,130 per tonne cif for the trimmed product that Metal Bulletin assesses.For the trimmed product, offers from China were at $2,210-2,250...