Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia maintained their upward momentum over the past week, with rapidly rising production costs resulting in higher Chinese offers.
Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless 2mm trimmed cold-rolled coil was $2,150-2,230 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the week ended Wednesday April 18, narrowing upward by $50 per tonne from a week earlier. Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless trimmed hot-rolled sheet was $2,140-2,170 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the same period, up $10-100 per tonne week on week.Not many bookings were made for stainless steel over the past week due to thin buying interest.Transactions involving Chinese stainless untrimmed CRC were heard to have been concluded at around $2,170 per tonne cif, which is equivalent to $2,200 per tonne cif for the trimmed product that Metal Bulletin assesses.As for stainless trimmed hot-rolled sheet, orders were...