East China stainless steel mill resumes #200 output

This week, the high-nickel pig iron market continues to show an upward trend in prices. According to the latest data, the weekly average price of SMM 8-12% high-nickel pig iron reached 987.8 RMB per nickel point (ex-factory, including tax), an increase of 9.4 RMB per nickel point compared to last week. Meanwhile, the international market's Indonesia NPI FOB index also increased by 1 USD per nickel point over the past week. Overall, the price of high-nickel pig iron continues to maintain an upward trend.

This week, the average price of SMM 8-12% high-grade NPI reached 952.2 yuan per mtu (ex-factory, tax included), down 10 yuan per mtu compared to last week. Meanwhile, the Indonesian NPI FOB index decreased by $1.6 per mtu WoW. The decline in high-grade NPI prices slowed this week.Supply side, in the domestic market, due to the decline in finished product prices, smelters continued to operate at a loss, reducing production motivation and maintaining stable operations. On the other hand, in Indonesia, new capacity gradually increased. Despite the reduced profits from high-grade nickel matte, the motivation to switch to high-grade NPI production strengthened, leading to an overall expansion in production.

In this week's nickel market, the price of high-nickel pig iron continues to be under pressure with a widened decline. Specifically, the average price of SMM 8-12% high-nickel pig iron for the week was 1,005.2 yuan per nickel point (including tax, ex-factory), a decrease of 15.1 yuan per nickel point compared to last week. Meanwhile, the Indonesian NPI FOB index decreased by 3.9 dollars per nickel point compared to last week. This indicates an accelerated decline in high-nickel pig iron prices this week.

On Wednesday, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 138,500 yuan/mt, and closed at 139,680 yuan/mt, up 2,590 yuan/mt compared with the last trading day. Trading volume increased by 50,757 lots to 273,596 lots, and open interest decreased by 4,150 lots to 81,592 lots. The most-traded SHFE nickel contract fluctuated sideways after initial slight drop. In the afternoon, it fell sharply to the lowest at 137,950 yuan/mt, and then rebounded, with the final increase of 1.93%.

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 132,880 yuan/mt, and closed at 131,780 yuan/mt, down 1,550 yuan/mt. Trading volume fell by 20,976 lots, and open interest decreased by 1,689 lots. From a macro perspective, the US Fed has kept the upper limit of its interest rate at 5.5%. The Fed once again maintained interest rates unchanged. Powell's speech has not disclosed when to cut interest rate. This interest rate decision will have little impact on the market. Fundamentally, the progress of nickel ore approval accelerated and production of intermediate product projects in Indonesia ramped up. The market's expectations for tight supply of raw materials began to weaken. On the other hand, affected by the sharp drop in nickel prices, transactions in the spot market picked up, and downstream purchasing sentiment recovered. Nickel price is expected to go down.

DCE iron ore futures rose by 1.03 % today, the main contract closed at 935. The steel mills are not active to purchase.The overall trading sentiment of the market is less.

DCE iron ore futures declined by 0.05 % today, the main contract closed at 925. The steel mills are not active to purchase.The overall trading sentiment of the market is less.

On October 23rd, according to SMM research, stainless steel futures continued to decline today. The opening price of 304 cold and hot rolled steel at Delon this week has dropped by 200-300 yuan/ton compared to last week.

The current market is mostly waiting to see the actual production in October and subsequent years. In summary, stainless steel prices are expected to be stable this week, and we will continue to pay attention to the actual production reductions of stainless steel plants.

DCE iron ore futures declined by 3.17% today, the main contract closed at 839. The steel mills are active to purchase.The overall trading sentiment of the market is general.