Social Inventory of Stainless Steel Rises for Three Consecutive Weeks, Surpassing 1 Million mt [SMM Analysis]

SMM News on June 19: This week (June 13-19, 2025), the total inventory in the two major stainless steel markets of Wuxi and Foshan continued to show an inventory buildup trend, increasing from 998,800 mt on June 12, 2025, to 1.0006 million mt on June 19, up 0.18% WoW. The social inventory of stainless steel has risen for three consecutive weeks, surpassing 1 million mt.
Currently, transactions in the stainless steel market remain sluggish. Prices continue to decline, further exacerbating the cautious sentiment among downstream end-users, who continue to adopt a strategy of just-in-time procurement in small quantities. Despite stainless steel prices falling to a new five-year low, the overall market sentiment remains pessimistic about future prospects, with no significant signs of buying the dip emerging. Facing sales pressure, steel mill agents and traders have also become cautious in signing orders and picking up goods, leading to sustained high inventory pressure in steel mills' in-plant and front-end warehouses. Data shows that the social inventory of stainless steel has risen for three consecutive weeks, surpassing 1 million mt, underscoring the contradiction of oversupply in the market. Although stainless steel production has declined somewhat, it remains at a historically high level for the same period, while the current situation of weak downstream demand is unlikely to reverse in the short term. Currently, the market generally hopes for further production cuts by steel mills to gradually restore the supply-demand relationship.

200-series: In Wuxi, the inventory of the 200-series increased from 98,900 mt to 99,100 mt, up 0.2%; in Foshan, it decreased from 164,100 mt to 163,300 mt, down 0.49%. 300-series: In Wuxi, the inventory of the 300-series increased from 367,800 mt to 369,400 mt, up 0.44%; in Foshan, it increased from 224,400 mt to 224,600 mt, up 0.09%. 400-series: In Wuxi, the inventory of the 400-series decreased from 84,100 mt to 83,700 mt, down 0.48%; in Foshan, it increased from 59,500 mt to 60,500 mt, up 1.68%.