[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Fluctuated and Pulled Back; Stainless Steel Spot Prices Held Steady
[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Fluctuated and Pulled Back; Spot Stainless Steel Prices Held Steady
SMM News on March 3: SS futures fluctuated downward and then pulled back. Base metals futures overall showed a pullback trend, and SS also moved lower in tandem, finally closing at 14,185 yuan/mt. In the spot market, although SS futures pulled back, supported by cost support and boosted by expectations for the “Golden March and Silver April” peak season, spot stainless steel quotes held steady. Today, a major stainless steel producer released a new round of guidance prices, overall unchanged; the market expected stainless steel production to be relatively high in March, and steel mills might focus on active shipments during the month, with the upside in prices likely constrained by increased supply.
The most-traded SS futures contract fluctuated downward. At 10:30 a.m., SS2604 was at 14,165 yuan/mt, up 5 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B were in the 355-555 yuan/mt range. In the spot market, Wuxi cold-rolled 201/2B coils were unchanged on average; for cold-rolled mill-edge 304/2B coils, the average price in Wuxi was unchanged, and the average price in Foshan was unchanged; Wuxi cold-rolled 316L/2B coils rose by 500 yuan/mt; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils in Wuxi rose by 400 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were unchanged on average.
The stainless steel market gradually recovered, with SS futures strengthening and probing higher. Driven by warming expectations for the traditional “Golden March and Silver April” peak consumption season and continued fermentation of news on Indonesian nickel ore, market participants’ bullish sentiment was strong. However, the recovery pace on the spot side was slow, with some traders and downstream end-users yet to resume operations, and market trading…