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Last week, the SS contract fluctuated within a certain range. At the beginning of the week, the hawkish speech of the US Fed pulled back the prices of non-ferrous metals. Shortly afterwards, stainless steel prices rose along with the prices of nickel futures, but the fundamentals of stainless steel were weak, so the prices of stainless steel again moved rangebound. Thus, spot prices were generally stable. Although the futures prices rose, the poor consumption still capped the prices, so the spot prices were generally stable. Meanwhile, the downstream was wait-and-see and only purchased on rigid demand.
The overall prices of the spots were mainly around 20,000 yuan/mt. In the Wuxi market, the trading was dragged down by the pandemic outbreak again, even though the logistics had few limitations. In terms of inventory, the inventory of cold-rolled coils increased slightly, while that of hot-rolled coils declined. In terms of costs, the firm NPI prices, the lasting supply tightness of pure nickel, and the closed import window strongly supported the stainless steel prices. On the fundamentals of stainless steel, the supply and demand were both weak. In May, some steel mills may stop the production. Due to the pandemic prevention and control measures, high costs and the shortage of raw materials, the output may not improve significantly in May. On the demand side, the pandemic may drag down the terminal orders regardless of the frequently released favourable policies. SMM believes that the prices of stainless steel will remain stable this week.