[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Pulls Back Sharply Amid News Disturbance; Stainless Steel Spot Weakens with Sluggish Trading
[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] News Disruption Sends SS Sharply Lower; Stainless Steel Spot Prices Weaken, Trading Sluggish
According to SMM on August 14, SS futures saw a sharp pullback. In the night session, the nonferrous metals sector was broadly in the doldrums. SS was already pulling back in tandem with the sector. Coupled with the morning disruption caused by news that Indonesian nickel ore quotas may be increased significantly, SHFE nickel and SS fell sharply in tandem. As of the close, the most-traded SS contract settled at 14,120 yuan/mt.
In the spot market, driven by the pullback in SS futures and lower offers from steel mill agents, stainless steel spot prices pulled back significantly. The price drop further reinforced market pessimism, and market trading remained in the doldrums.
The Most-Traded SS Futures Contract. At 10:15 a.m., SS2610 traded at 14,245 yuan/mt, down 150 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, spot premiums for 304/2B were in the 425-825 yuan/mt range.
In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coil in Wuxi was flat; for cold-rolled 304/2B mill-edge coil, the average price in Wuxi fell 100 yuan/mt and that in Foshan fell 150 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 316L/2B coil prices in Wuxi fell 300 yuan/mt; hot-rolled 316L/No.1 coil offers in Wuxi fell 350 yuan/mt; and cold-rolled 430/2B coil prices in both Wuxi and Foshan were flat.
This week, stainless steel futures were repeatedly disrupted by macro sentiment and generally maintained a weak pullback trend. During the week, news on Indonesia’s RKAB nickel ore approvals repeatedly disturbed industry expectations. Coupled with the US Fed's hawkish policy stance, the US-Iran geopolitical conflict still...