SunSirs: Stainless Steel Prices Rose Slightly This Week (January 10-14)

　　According to the price monitoring of SunSirs, stainless steel rose slightly this week. As of January 14, the daily average price of spot 304/2B stainless steel plate 1.0*1219*2438 (tolerance 0.91) was 16,481.67 RMB/ton. Compared with the price of 16,073.33 RMB/ton at the beginning of the week, the price rose by 2.54%, and it up 20.38% year-on-year.

　　According to the spread analysis tool of SunSirs, the prices of spot stainless steel and upstream spot nickel were both on the rise this week.

　　Analysis review

　　Supply and demand: At the beginning of the week, it was rumored that “a cold-rolling plant (the monthly output of this cold-rolling plant is about 50,000 tons) in Shandong will reduce production due to the Winter Olympics”, which greatly boosted the price of stainless steel. After the suspension of production and speculation, the stainless steel futures market continued to rise, but the stainless steel spot market was relatively calm, and steel traders only rose slightly. Although merchants generally raised prices, the overall transaction was relatively deserted. As the Spring Festival holiday is approaching, merchants have low expectations for transactions, and downstream purchases are also cautious.

　　Upstream nickel prices also rose slightly due to tight supply.

　　Market outlook

　　The end of the year is approaching, and downstream demand is gradually weakening. After this week, the market has been on holiday one after another, and the stocking has basically ended before the year. In the case of high raw material costs, the price of stainless steel will mainly maintain a high level before the Spring Festival.