China’s stainless steel prices ascend further on costly raw materials

Stainless steel prices in China continued to rise over the past week on higher production costs due to elevated nickel prices.

Prices for the alloying metal had remained at relatively high levels following the recent move by Indonesia to bring forward its ban on nickel ore exports to 2020 from 2022. “Stainless steel prices have maintained an uptrend despite the recent dip in nickel prices because mills’ production costs will rise once they use up their existing inventories of cheaper nickel,” a trader in northern China said. The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended Wednesday October 16’s trading session at $16,930-16,940 per tonne. The contract price surged from around $16,000 per tonne in late August to a year-to-date high of $18,450-18,475 per tonne.