SS Contract Prices Fall amid High Spot Inventory

SHANGHAI, Mar 13 (SMM) - The SS contract prices kept dropping last week. On the macro front, Fed's Chairman Powell intended to accelerate the rate hikes, and the growth of US ADP employment exceeded expectations, leading to a sharp fall in commodity prices. On the supply side, many stainless steel mills announced maintenance last week, boosting the market confidence to a certain extent. At the same time, stainless steel inventory kept falling, but the overall stocks were still high, weighing on the futures prices. A stainless steel mill in east China purchased thousands of tonnes of Indonesia NPI at 1,280 yuan/mtu, greatly dragging down the market prices. Besides, the nickel ore supply was insufficient as the Philippines is still undergoing the rainy season, so the NPI prices are expected to remain low. Ferrochrome trading was slack since the costs of spot raw materials stood high, and the ferrochrome prices fluctuated with occasional falls. It is expected that ferrochrome prices will drop slightly in the near future. In general, SS contract prices fell amid poor demand, high spot inventory and falling costs. SMM predicts that the stainless steel futures prices will be stable with some downward potential this week.