Spot Stainless Steel Transactions were Slack as Most Market Players and Downstream Companies are on CNY Holiday

Published: Jan 16, 2023 16:34

Source: SMM

Save

Spot prices of #304 stainless steel grew slightly last week.

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM) - Spot prices of #304 stainless steel grew slightly last week. On the supply side, shipments from steel mills were low, but the market got a certain amount of warrant sources. On the demand side, most of the processing factories ramped up the production to deliver the previously received orders and made no stockpiling of raw materials before the Chinese New Year. The costs of stainless steel remained firm. Prices of high-grade NPI were stable last week. Spot NPI supply in the market was tight, and the plants adjusted their production reduction plans according to the production scheduling of steel mills. Recently, NPI factories have slightly lowered the quotes amid the fall in the futures prices. However, the steel mills may not resume the NPI purchases until after the CNY holiday since they have completed the restocking. SMM believes that the short-term NPI prices will remain stable. High-carbon ferrochrome prices also grew somewhat. The transportation was not smooth due to the upcoming Chinese New Year. In addition, the arrivals of chrome ore at ports in January are not expected to be sufficient, which may further push up the ferrochrome prices. SMM expects the ferrochrome prices to be steady in the near future. Recently, the stainless steel market has remained slack near the year-end. And the supply and demand will further weaken this week. The stainless steel prices may still be stable this week with the firm cost support.

Spot Market Market

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or to learn more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

Mar 13, 2026 18:30

Strong Cost Support Remained; Ferrous Metals May Hold Up Well in the Short Term [SMM Steel Industry Chain Weekly Report]

This week, ferrous metals rebounded from the bottom. At the start of the week, coking coal and coke led the futures higher, mainly driven by rising crude oil prices in the overseas market, which pushed the energy and chemicals sector stronger accordingly; mid-week, both the U.S. and Iran signaled a more relaxed stance toward war, easing geopolitical tensions, while coal prices fell in tandem, weakening the cost-side logic, and ferrous metals fluctuated at highs; in the latter half of the week, worsening short-term liquidity issues in BHP's iron ore port inventory triggered stronger iron ore prices in the overseas market, while the Middle East situation remained volatile, reinforcing cost support and pushing ferrous metals higher again. In the spot market, supported by futures, end-user and arbitrage purchase sentiment both improved WoW this week......

Mar 13, 2026 18:30

Mar 13, 2026 18:14

[SMM Daily HRC Trading Volume] Futures Hovered at Highs, Spot Trading Changed Relatively Little

[SMM Daily HRC Trading Volume] On March 13, the total daily HRC trading volume of sample enterprises in SMM's four cities (Shanghai, Lecong, Tianjin, Ningbo) was 15,910 mt, down 40 mt day on day (-0.3%), down 11.27% YoY on a calendar basis, and up 12.20% YoY on a lunar calendar basis.

Mar 13, 2026 18:14

Mar 13, 2026 17:59

MMi Daily Iron Ore Report (March 13)

The continuous iron ore contract opened with a gap up today, showing strength in the early morning but weakening in the afternoon. The main contract, I2605, eventually closed at 811.5 CNY/ton, up 2.33% from the previous trading session.

Mar 13, 2026 17:59