Spot Stainless Steel Prices Stood Low Last Week

SHANGHAI, May 22 (SMM) - Stainless steel prices remained low last week, with spot #304 quotes dipping about 300 yuan/mt WoW. Last Wednesday, a stainless steel mill in east China suspended the cold-rolled coil shipments to the Wuxi market and cut the shipments to the Foshan market. Besides,with the digestion of warrant goods, social inventory of cold-rolled coil declined a little.. In terms of hot-rolled coils, a mill in east China reduced its shipment volume to the market last week, allowing the social inventory to drop slowly. High-grade NPI prices were low last week. Some holders slightly cut their quotes when the downstream demand was lower than expected. SMM predicts that the short-term NPI prices will fall in the short term as the stainless steel mills will carry out overhauls. Prices of ferrochrome rose slightly during the week amid the producers’ intention to raise their quotes before the bid price release, but the transactions were slack because of the wait-and-see approach taken by buyers. Ferrochrome prices will run steadily before the bid price release. In general, the stainless steel supply and demand both decreased last week. Spot stainless steel prices are expected to drop this week.