BEIJING 6 Dec 16 Chinese 304 grade stainless CRC market continues to be quiet for the time being under customers’ waitandsee attitude. Current mainstream market prices of 304/2B 2.0mm*1,219mm*C from T aigang Stainless and JISCO are about RMB16,100/t (USD2,337/t) VA T included in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Insiders do not expect the market to improve in the next few days.
A Wuxibased distributor of 304 grade stainless CRC with a trading volume of around 150,000t in 2015 told Asian
Metal that the market remains dim at present. His price for 304/2B 2.0mm*1,219mm*C from JISCO is
RMB16,100/t (USD2,337/t) VA T included, the same as that of the previous trading day.
Since JISCO announced to keep the list price of 304/2B 2.0mm*1,219mm*C stable at RMB16,250/t (USD2,359/t) for the week of 30th Nov to 6th Dec, the source maintains his prices unchanged at the moment . However , seeing the high price level, customers without urgent need for materials are still holding a waitandsee attitude now and
placing orders sparingly . “I raised the price by a total of RMB1,200/t (USD174/t) last month,” he said, adding that his current sales volume keeps at no more than 300tpd against that of around 9,000t in November. With an inventory of about 3,000t, the source does not think the market will recover in the following days.
Another trader in Tianjin confirmed the sluggish market. His price for 304/2B 2.0mm*1,219mm*C from T aigang Stainless is RMB16,300/t (USD2,366/t) VA T included, stable compared with that of the previous trading day.
Though demand from customers does not improve, the source keeps his prices stable at present mainly supported by higher raw material costs. According to him, the market price of Jinchuan 99.9%min nickel cathode in domestic China went up by RMB2,700/t (USD392/t) this week to about RMB93,650/t (USD13,593/t). “The market sales performance continues to be poor at the moment under customers’ cautious attitude and my current sales volumeis less than 30tpd against that of about 900t for last month,” he said . Holding a stockpile of about 500t in hand now ,the source is not optimistic about the forthcoming market. A traders in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province also reported to Asian Metal that the market keeps quiet now and his price for 304/2B 2.0mm*1,219mm*C from T aigang Stainless is RMB16,300/t (USD2,366/t), unchanged compared with that of last trading day.
With a sale volume of no more than 100tpd against that of around 3,000t in November, the source expressed that customers need more time to accept the sharp price increase in recent two months and the market salesperformance is unlikely to improve in the short term. “Prices of 304 grade stainless CRC went up by about 23% in the past two months mainly supported by higher raw material costs and increase in steel mills’ list prices,” he said .
Like other traders, the source may keep his prices stable to watch the market in the coming days and his current inventory is below 1,000t.
