Posted on 25 Aug 2025
Total inventories of finished stainless steel in commercial warehouses in Wuxi and Foshan China's two main stainless trading hubs increased slightly over August 15-21 after the previous week's decrease, with the total tonnage up 5,625 tonnes or 0.6% on week at 930,057 tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest survey result.
The sample size under Mysteel's tracking comprises 50 warehouses in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province and 28 warehouses in Foshan in South China's Guangdong province.
During the survey period, stainless steel inventories at warehouses in Wuxi had edged up by 0.7% on week, and those in Foshan by an even smaller 0.4% from the previous week, the findings showed.
Lackluster demand led transactions in the physical market to slow this week. Many stainless users were cautious about placing new orders, given the uncertainty of price movements of stainless steel in the coming term, Mysteel Global learned.
The negative market sentiment had caused China's stainless prices in both physical and futures markets to retreat this week. To facilitate sales, some traders made concessions in their offering prices as high-priced stainless products struggled to find buyers.
As of August 21, the spot price of 304/2B Hongwang 2*1240mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province under Mysteel's assessment came in at Yuan 13,050/tonne ($1,816/t) in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, slipping by Yuan 200/t on week.
On Thursday, the most-traded stainless steel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in October closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 12,795/t, falling by Yuan 285/t from the settlement price on August 14, according to the exchange's data.
However, domestic stainless prices have gained a little support from the cost side as prices of stainless steelmaking raw materials such as nickel pig iron (NPI) have firmed, Mysteel Global noted.
On August 21, Mysteel assessed the price of high-grade NPI with 7-13% nickel content in Jiangsu at Yuan 935/mtu including delivery and the 13% VAT, unchanged from one week before.
Source:Mysteel Global
