Posted on 18 Sep 2026
The decline in Chinese spot prices of 304-grade stainless steel took a pause during the survey week to September 16 and stabilized across key trading hubs of Wuxi and Foshan, as pre-holiday restocking revived buying interest, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel assessed the 304/2B Hongwang 2*1240mm cold-rolled coil (CRC) in Wuxi, East China, at Yuan 14,200/tonne ($2,117/t) in-warehouse including VAT on Wednesday, flat from a week earlier, while in the South China hub of Foshan, the same product was also assessed at Yuan 14,200/t.
Trading activity picked up during the week, with stockpiling demand ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival over September 25-27 and the National Day holiday during October 1-7 helping to support prices.
The daily trading volume across all stainless grades among the 63 domestic stainless steel mills under Mysteel's tracking totaled 34,183 tonnes on September 16, marking an increase of 36% from the daily average the previous week.
Spot prices also found support as stainless futures halted their slide on Tuesday. The most-traded stainless contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 13,565/t on September 15, up Yuan 15/t from the previous trading day. Market watchers said this suggested the recent bearish momentum was easing, though the contract remained lower on week.
On the cost side, integrated mills using outsourced high-grade nickel pig iron saw their daily average cash cost for producing 304-grade CRC fall to Yuan 13,791/t by September 16, down Yuan 403/t on week.
Despite lower costs, firmer pre-holiday demand kept prices supported. As selling prices remained stable, mill profitability improved, with the average gross profit enjoyed by these mills expanding to Yuan 409/t, also as of September 16, higher by a huge Yuan 403/t on week.
Inventory pressure remained contained as well. Mysteel's survey of 89 warehouses across six major Chinese cities showed that as of September 17, total austenitic stainless steel stocks were generally steady at 672,057 tonnes, higher by just a tiny 0.2% from the previous week.
Source:Mysteel Global
