Production cuts at stainless steel mills expected to ease surplus, stainless steel prices stop falling and start to rise [SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review]

Published: Jun 25, 2025 18:08

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[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: Production Cuts by Stainless Steel Mills Expected to Ease Surplus, Stainless Steel Prices Stop Falling and Explore Upside] SMM reported on June 25 that SS futures market strengthened and rose, once approaching the 12,600 yuan/mt threshold, showing an overall strong trend during the day. In the spot market, Tsingshan raised its stainless steel plate prices by 50-100 yuan/mt in the morning. Coupled with the boost from the news of steel mill production cuts yesterday, market confidence recovered somewhat, and prices rose accordingly. Inquiry activity increased, and transactions of low-priced goods also recovered. However, overall market prices remained at a relatively low level, and there were still doubts about the actual volume of production cuts by steel mills. The current prices were still in a tentative upward phase. In the futures market, the most-traded 2508 contract strengthened and rose. At 10:30 a.m., SS2508 was reported at 12,480 yuan/mt, up 140 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B stainless steel in the Wuxi region were in the range of 190-390 yuan/mt. In the spot market, cold-rolled 201/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were reported at 7,625 yuan/mt; cold-rolled trimmed 304/2B coils had an average price of 12,600 yuan/mt in Wuxi and the same in Foshan; cold-rolled 316L/2B coils were priced at 23,800 yuan/mt in Wuxi and the same in Foshan; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils were reported at 23,100 yuan/mt in both regions; cold-rolled 430/2B coils were priced at 7,350 yuan/mt in both Wuxi and Foshan. Currently, the stainless steel market is in the traditional off-season for consumption, with downstream demand remaining sluggish. Despite enterprises generally facing the dilemma of losses...

SMM reported on June 25 that the SS futures market strengthened and rose, approaching the 12,600 yuan/mt threshold at one point, showing an overall strong trend during the day. In the spot market, Tsingshan raised its stainless steel spot prices by 50-100 yuan/mt in the morning. Coupled with the boost from yesterday's news of production cuts by steel mills, market confidence recovered somewhat, and prices rose accordingly. Inquiry activity increased, and transactions of low-priced goods recovered slightly. However, the overall market price remained at a relatively low level, and the market still had doubts about the actual volume of production cuts by steel mills, with the current price still in a tentative upward phase.

In the futures market, the most-traded contract 2508 strengthened and rose. At 10:30 a.m., SS2508 was quoted at 12,480 yuan/mt, up 140 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B stainless steel in the Wuxi area ranged from 190-390 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi and Foshan were both quoted at 7,625 yuan/mt; the average price of cold-rolled trimmed 304/2B coils was 12,600 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 12,600 yuan/mt in Foshan; the cold-rolled 316L/2B coils were priced at 23,800 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 23,800 yuan/mt in Foshan; the hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils were quoted at 23,100 yuan/mt in both Wuxi and Foshan; and the cold-rolled 430/2B coils were both priced at 7,350 yuan/mt in Wuxi and Foshan.

Currently, the stainless steel market is in the traditional off-season for consumption, with downstream demand remaining sluggish. Despite enterprises generally facing the dilemma of losses, some steel mills have already begun to implement production cuts. However, due to the large production base in the early stage, the current market supply remains at a historically high level for the same period, and the contradiction of oversupply is particularly prominent. The shipping pressure for stainless steel mills, agents, and traders has risen sharply. Both in-plant inventory and social inventory remain high, and market pessimism is widespread. Traders are scrambling to ship goods, leading to a continuous decline in stainless steel quotes. The raw material side is also under tremendous pressure. Affected by expectations for production cuts by steel mills, the prices of raw materials such as high-grade NPI and stainless steel scrap have also weakened simultaneously, further weakening the cost support for stainless steel. The market is waiting for the repair of the supply-demand relationship after production cuts by stainless steel mills.

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.

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