Stainless steel prices bottom out, waiting for production cuts to be implemented for verification [SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review]
[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: Stainless Steel Prices Bottom Out and Rebound, Awaiting Production Cuts Verification] SMM reported on June 27 that the SS futures market exhibited a fluctuating trend, with overall prices remaining stable above 12,600 yuan/mt. In the spot market, stainless steel spot prices experienced fluctuations, initially falling and then rising this week. Early in the week, influenced by low-priced transactions of high-grade NPI and downward adjustments in stainless steel mills' list prices, stainless steel prices fell to their lowest point in nearly five years, with the base price of some 304 cold-rolled mill edge steel coils dropping to 12,100 yuan/mt. Despite continued pessimistic market sentiment, the low prices stimulated some traders' demand to buy the dip and replenish their stocks. Subsequently, news emerged of production cuts at a major stainless steel mill, leading stainless steel spot prices to end their two-month consecutive decline and bottom out and rebound. The market inquiry atmosphere warmed up, with trading conditions slightly improving. Social inventory also declined during the week, falling below 1 million mt. Additionally, when stainless steel mills' list prices were at a low level early in the week, traders were more willing to purchase futures orders, which alleviated the mills' shipping pressure to some extent. In the futures market, the most-traded contract 2508 strengthened and rose. At 10:30 a.m., SS2508 was quoted at 12,620 yuan/mt, down 50 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In the Wuxi region, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B stainless steel ranged from 200 to 400 yuan/mt. In the spot market, cold-rolled 201/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were quoted at 7,625 yuan/mt; cold-rolled mill edge 304/2B coils had an average price of 12,750 yuan/mt in Wuxi, and in Foshan...