Spot Stainless Steel Prices to Remain Stable, while the SS Contract Prices to Move Rangebound

SHANGHAI, Jan 9 (SMM) - Last week, the SS contract prices deviated from the fundamentals and experienced great ups and downs. On the macro front, the minutes of the US Fed’s December meeting confirmed a slowdown in rate hikes, but the meeting did not indicate that the interest rates will be cut in 2023. The market believes that the final interest rate will be higher than investors’ expectations, and commodity prices were under pressure. On the supply side, shipments of stainless steel from large factories to the market were reduced last week. On the demand side, the spot stainless steel transactions were slack in the week. And some market participants may have CNY holidays in advance. Stainless steel prices were still supported by the cost. High-grade NPI prices were flat WoW last week. Spot supply was scarce, and some traders who stored a certain amount of NPI held their prices firm. The market witnessed some inquiries from steel mills, but the actual transactions were rare. The NPI demand is likely to fall further as the steel mills may expand their maintenance scale in January 2023. SMM believes that the short-term NPI prices will be stable. Prices of high-carbon ferrochrome were also flat. Ferrochrome production will be unstable due to the potential power rationing in Inner Mongolia in recent days. The ferrochrome plants were less willing to lower their quotes restricted by costs. It is expected that the prices of ferrochrome will be steady in the near future. In terms of the SS contract, a considerable amount of cargo was sent to delivery warehouses. The market shall continue to pay attention to the situation of deliverable products. In general, the fundamentals of stainless steel were weak but stable, and the SS contract fluctuated slightly amid the events on the news and macro front. SMM believes that the spot stainless steel prices will remain stable, while the futures prices will move rangebound.