Jun maintenance to affect #200 stainless steel output by 50,000 mt 

SHANGHAI, Jun 5 (SMM) – Maintenance across stainless steel producers in June will cut some 50,000 mt of #200 series output, but is likely to have minimal impact on the output of #300 series, an SMM survey found on Tuesday June 4. 

This is likely to extend the weak fundamentals of nickel this month even as #200 stainless steel, with low-grade ferronickel and wastes materials as feedstock, consumes less nickel in production than the #300 series. 

Last week, demand for stainless steel failed to improve considerably though producers lower prices, and this drove inventories of the products to a record high across mills. Distributors reported poor trades of cold- and hot-rolled coil. 

Earlier this week, a major stainless steel producer in Guangxi province began annual maintenance on its steel and hot-rolled coil capacity as its revenues fell below costs in a falling market.