SHANGHAI, Jul 18 (SMM) - In the first half of last week, the SS contract hovered around 16,600-16,900 yuan/mt. Last Friday July 15, the US CPI data in June and the GDP data of China in the second quarter were both released. The expected economic recession suppressed the nonferrous metal prices, and the stainless steel futures prices plunged to around 16,050 yuan/mt. The warrant inventory continued to drop, with a weekly decrease of about 11.3%. At the beginning of last week, the spot prices kept falling, with an intraday drop of about 200 yuan/mt last Friday July 15. Besides, the effect of production reduction of steel mills in July may not reach the expectation.  As for the costs, ferrochrome and NPI prices were on a downward trend, and the cost efficiency of stainless steel scrap rose somewhat. In the short term, the contradiction between supply and demand may continue to weaken, and the cost support will be poor. SMM believes that the ss contract will remain rangebound with some drops this week.