[SMM Stainless Steel Market Flash] Report Says New Stainless Steel Can Operate in Seawater at up to 1700 mV

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Continue to Pull Back, Stainless Steel Spot Prices Drop According to SMM on July 28, SS futures moved further downward in a pullback. Dragged down by the overall decline in nonferrous metals futures, SS futures fell in tandem. By the close, the most-traded SS contract settled at 14,515 yuan/mt. In the spot market, impacted by the successive pullback in SS futures, market confidence continued to weaken. Moreover, stainless steel mills that had previously halted production resumed operations, increasing the supply of materials. The market, already with weak consumption, faced mounting absorption pressure, and stainless steel offers also pulled back. The most-traded SS futures contract, SS2609, at 10:15 am, was at 14,540 yuan/mt, down 170 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Wuxi’s 304/2B spot premiums were in the range of 430-830 yuan/mt. In the spot market, cold-rolled 201/2B coil average price in Wuxi remained flat; cold-rolled unedged 304/2B coil average price in Wuxi (-50 yuan/mt) and Foshan (-50 yuan/mt); cold-rolled 316L/2B coil price in Wuxi (-75 yuan/mt); hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil in Wuxi remained flat; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan remained flat. This week, macro and industry tailwinds converged, supporting nickel and stainless steel futures to maintain a consolidating on a strong note trend. On the macro front, US inflation expectations pulled back, alongside the ongoing US-Iran geopolitical conflict that continued to disrupt market risk sentiment. On the industrial front, earlier expectations of limited incremental growth in Indonesia's RKAB nickel mine supplementary quotas continued to simmer, effectively stabilizing the bottom of nickel prices and driving SHFE nickel to drift higher...

[SMM Analysis] Stainless Steel Products and Costs Edge Up in Tandem, Steel Mill Profits Stable This week, stainless steel product prices and production costs edged up in tandem, while steel mill smelting profits remained basically stable overall. Based on calculations for 304 cold-rolling, the profit margin this week was 2.15% when accounting for raw materials at current prices and 1.11% when accounting for inventory raw materials, indicating that stainless steel mills still maintain certain smelting profits. Nickel-based raw materials side, high-grade NPI prices were largely stable this week. Although SHFE nickel and SS futures held up well overall during the week, the current traditional consumption off-season for stainless steel meant steel mills' purchase demand for NPI remained persistently weak, with very few actual transactions concluded recently. Amid the tug-of-war between longs and shorts, NPI prices remained steady this week. As of this Friday, the delivered duty-paid price for China's 10-12% grade Indonesian high-grade NPI remained stable at 1,132.5 yuan per nickel unit. Stainless steel scrap prices edged up this week, lifted by stronger SS futures driving spot prices higher. However, the temporarily stable high-grade NPI prices narrowed scrap's economic advantage. The current traditional consumption off-season persists, downstream demand is sluggish, and steel mills are cautious in purchasing, mainly transacting on a need-to basis. Under the dual constraints of weak demand and diminishing substitution benefits, upward momentum for stainless steel scrap was insufficient. In the short term, it will maintain largely stable consolidation supported by futures resilience, with limited upside room. As of this Friday, mainstream 304 off-cuts prices in Shanghai rose by 200 yuan/mt, quoted at 10,450 yuan/mt. Chrome-based raw materials side, high-carbon ferrochrome prices operated stably this week. Although ferrochrome supply remains relatively ample currently, coupled with demand pulling back amid off-season production cuts for stainless steel, recent high-cost ferrochrome...

[SMM Stainless Steel Scrap Market Weekly Review] SS Futures Strength Drives Slight Uptick in Stainless Steel Scrap, Off-Season Demand Weakness Caps Price Gains This week, prices for 304 stainless steel scrap off-cuts in east China edged up, with quotations ranging between 10,400-10,500 yuan/mt. Prices in Foshan rose in tandem, with a price range of 10,300-10,600 yuan/mt. An analysis of raw material production costs shows that the cost of producing stainless steel entirely from stainless steel scrap is approximately 14,607.48 yuan/mt, while the cost using high-grade NPI reaches 14,962.08 yuan/mt, with a cost spread persisting between the two. Stainless steel scrap prices edged up this week. SS futures strengthened overall during the week, and the positive sentiment from the futures side was smoothly transmitted to the spot market, driving a slight concurrent rise in spot prices for finished stainless steel. However, stainless steel mills continued to push for lower prices for high-grade NPI, and amid the tug-of-war between upstream and downstream, high-grade NPI prices held steady for the time being. Overall momentum from the raw material side remained weak, but stainless steel scrap rose in tandem with the strengthening pace of finished product spot cargoes, holding up well overall. With high-grade NPI prices remaining stable this week, the economic advantage of stainless steel scrap narrowed notably, and the cost substitution benefit weakened. In summary, futures provided support for market prices, but off-season fundamentals continued to cap price upside. The market is currently in the traditional consumption off-season for stainless steel, downstream end-use demand remains sluggish, overall industry production pulled back, and the rigid demand for stainless steel scrap weakened accordingly. The purchasing sentiment among steel mills turned cautious, and raw material procurement overall this week...