Cost Efficiency of Stainless Steel Scrap is Higher than that of High-Grade NPI last Week

SHANGHAI, Mar 6 (SMM) - The cost efficiency of stainless steel scrap was higher last week. The cash cost of cold-rolled stainless steel produced completely by stainless steel scrap was about 16,673.68 yuan/mt, and that of stainless steel produced completely by high-grade NPI was about 16,949.92 yuan/mt.  Last week, Tsingshan Group stopped bidding owing to the completion of procurement. The bid price of #304 stainless steel scrap was about 12,250 yuan/mt, which is equivalent to high-grade NPI prices of around 1,310 yuan/mtu. Short-term market supply of steel scrap will soar as soon as Tsingshan, the stainless steel mill with the largest purchasing volume of steel scrap, finishes its procurement, resulting in a decline in scrap prices last week. The NPI inventory held by traders continued to grow, and some bearish traders dumped their goods in large quantities. Recently, the NPI prices have fallen, attracting active inquiries from stainless steel mills. And the NPI prices kept dropping last week. However, the stainless steel mills' demand for NPI is greatly curbed by the losses. It is expected that the prices of high-grade NPI will fall further in the short term. Therefore, SMM believes that the cost efficiency of stainless steel scrap will drop gradually.