Posted on 11 Apr 2025
After more than a month of steady gains, China's 304-grade stainless steel prices for both cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-rolled coil (HRC) have dropped back this month to levels last seen on March 9 -- with most of the decline occurring over just one week as stainless steel futures posted a sharper drop, Mysteel Global noted.
On April 9, Mysteel assessed the in-warehouse price of 304-grade stainless CRC in Wuxi, East China, at Yuan 13,350/tonne ($1,818.2/t) including tax, down by Yuan 350/t from the previous week.
Likewise, the 304 stainless HRC price in Wuxi reached Yuan 12,850/t including tax, also down Yuan 350/t from April 3, according to Mysteel's assessment.
In comparison, futures dropped more steeply. The most-traded stainless steel contract for June delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange plunged by Yuan 970/t week-on-week, closing the daytime session on Wednesday at Yuan 12,725/t – the lowest since July 2020.
Market watchers attributed the futures slump largely to heightened volatility in global derivatives markets over the past week amid intensifying trade friction.
Despite the market weakness, stainless producers have remained cautious about adjusting their list prices, citing continued cost pressures and thin profit margins. For instance, on April 7 Tsingshan Group, the Zhejiang-headquartered stainless steel giant, announced that it was keeping its list prices for 304 CRC and HRC unchanged from March 17 at Yuan 13,500/t and Yuan 13,200/t respectively.
Tsingshan's steady pricing provided some support to spot sentiment, helping to moderate the price correction in physical stainless products compared with the futures market, insiders observed.
Meanwhile, trading activity remained largely steady. Total inventories of austenitic stainless steel across the 89 commercial warehouses in six major Chinese cities as of April 10 had edged down by 0.28% on-week to 730,500 tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
