Price trend

According to the price monitoring of SunSirs, the price of stainless steel first rose and then fell in July. As of the end of July, the spot price of stainless steel was 12,864.29 RMB/ton, a decrease of 0.5% from 12,928.57 RMB/ton at the beginning of the month. As a traditional off-season for consumption, July had weak overall demand.

Annual Price Comparison of Stainless Steel

According to the annual price comparison chart of stainless steel by SunSirs in the past five years, the probability of stainless steel price increase in August is relatively high.

Supply and demand side

On the supply side, the production of stainless steel in July may decline, and the expectation of supply contraction was supported. As of July 31st, some steel mills had inverted profits, but there had been no significant reduction in top stainless steel mills. There had been progress in the approval of nickel ore quotas in Indonesia, and the pressure on the mining sector was weakening. There may be some room for downward adjustment in August. The stability of domestic nickel pig iron supply may be affected by debt issues or changes, and production has remained stable recently. Further progress remains to be observed.

On the demand side, the demand situation continued to be average. In June, the demand for stainless steel raw materials for the four major household appliances was 253,000 tons, a decrease of 0.03 million tons or 0.12% compared to the previous month. The export market was performing optimistically, coupled with the continued optimistic demand for some seasonal household appliances, the overall demand for stainless steel raw materials for household appliances remained relatively high. The demand for stainless steel in the home appliance industry has performed well, but the overall demand for stainless steel has not shown significant growth, and the fundamentals remained under certain pressure.

Stainless steel inventory

As of last weekend, the total inventory of stainless steel was 1.09598 million tons, an increase of 1.4% from the beginning of the month. Among them, cold-rolled inventory increased while hot-rolled inventory decreased.

Market outlook

In summary, domestic steel mills have expanded their production cuts in July, but the pressure to reduce inventory remains significant. The reversal of the downward trend of stainless steel still requires time, waiting for further inventory depletion and whether steel mills can take significant measures to reduce production. Additionally, there is still room for price reductions on the raw material side, making it difficult to escape the sluggish trend in the short term. However, August coincides with the transition from the traditional off-season to the peak season for consumption, and some terminals have expectations of restocking, which may lead to a slight increase in demand for stainless steel raw materials in the home appliance industry. With the increasing reduction in production by steel mills, it is expected that the stainless steel market will experience strong fluctuations in August.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact SunSirs with support@SunSirs.com.