Stainless steel prices in China were mostly stable over the past week despite soft demand and recent gains in the price of nickel, sources said.
The
three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange has averaged $12,707 per tonne so far in June, compared with $12,204 per tonne in May.
Domestic
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
stainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic, ex-whs China in Wuxi was 13,300-13,800 yuan ($1,870-1,941) per tonne including value-added tax on Wednesday June 3, down by 100 yuan per tonne from 13,400-13,900 yuan per tonne
a week earlier.
Demand remained stable but weak, which weighed on stainless steel prices.
Trading houses do not have a lot of inventory, so they are unlikely to cut prices further in the next 2-3 days, sources said.
But stainless steel mills have stock in...