Stainless steel producers further postpone resumption to March 1

SHANGHAI, Feb 10 (SMM) – Stainless steel producers in Chencun Town, Guangdong province have rolled out a proposal to further delay their resumption after the Chinese New Year holiday no earlier than March 1, a move aimed to control the spread of the coronavirus. 

This followed some stainless steel traders and distributors in Wuxi who said as of February 7 to extend their holidays by another week. 

Stainless steel plants also called for reduction or exemption of rental for producers that postponed their return.  

Guangqing Stainless Steel, a major producer in Jiangsu, also announced to extend the CNY holiday to February 15 and resume normal operations on February 16. 

In the spot stainless steel market in Wuxi, offers of cold- and hot- rolled products were flat from the pre-holiday levels, with some traders cutting prices by 100-200 yuan/mt, SMM assessed as of noon of February 10. 

At noon of February 10, quotes of 304/2B cut-edge coil at state-owned companies stood at 14,800-15,100 yuan/mt in Wuxi, with offers of 304/2B raw-edge coil at private companies at 14,050-14,250 yuan/mt.