Posted on 26 Oct 2026
Total inventories of finished stainless steel in commercial warehouses in Wuxi and Foshan, China's two main stainless steel trading hubs, continued to move down during October 16-22, with the tonnage slipping for the second week by 14,796 tonnes or 1.6% on week to 919,635 tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
The survey covers 50 warehouses in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province and 28 warehouses in Foshan in South China's Guangdong province.
During the latest survey period, stainless steel inventories at warehouses in Wuxi dipped by 0.9% from the week prior, while the tonnage at warehouses in Foshan slipped by a larger 2.7% on week, the findings showed.
The further decline was mainly attributed to improved sales of spot stainless cargoes, as many end-users returned to the market for replenishment amid better sentiment following the rebound in stainless futures. Meanwhile, speculative appetite also picked up this week, Mysteel Global learned.
On October 22, the most-traded stainless steel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in December closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 13,715/tonne ($2,055/t), higher by Yuan 450/t from the settlement price on October 15, according to the exchange's data.
Stainless steel prices for spot sales strengthened accordingly. The price of 304/2B 2*1240mm Hongwang stainless steel cold-rolled coil in Wuxi under Mysteel's assessment stood at Yuan 14,100/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT on October 22, jumping by Yuan 200/t on week.
Major stainless steelmakers in China also raised their list prices for sales this month. For example, Tsingshan Holding Group (Tsingshan), China's largest stainless steel producer headquartered in East China's Zhejiang province, announced on Friday morning to hike its list prices of 304-grade hot-rolled and cold-rolled stainless coils by Yuan 100/t for October sales, according to Mysteel's survey.
However, prices of nickel pig iron (NPI), one of the major stainless steelmaking raw materials, remained weak, as fundamentals have yet to show significant improvement, despite news of production cut plans by smelters in Indonesia, Mysteel Global noted.
On October 22, Mysteel assessed the price of high-grade NPI with 7-13% nickel content in Jiangsu at Yuan 1,020/mtu including delivery and the 13% VAT, falling by Yuan 25/mtu from one week before.
Source:Mysteel Global
