OfBusiness Stainless Steel Dailies | 8th July 2023

Price

• Nickel closed yesterday at $20,804/ton (down by 1.91% from the lowest mean), while Copper closed yesterday at $8,371/ton (up by 1.32% from the lowest mean).
• INR closed for the week slightly stronger against USD at 82.62/-.
• Jindal Stainless Limited’s share opened today at Rs 363.20/- (down by 0.60%).
• Rimjhim’s retail price for SS 304 CR 2B is now running at Rs. 202/kg, compared to Jindal’s Rs. 216/kg (for wider) and Jindal’s Rs. 212/kg (for narrow). Jindal’s 304 HR N1 is at Rs. 203/kg basic against Rimjhim’s Rs. 192/kg, while 316L Jindal HR N1 is at Rs. 343/kg, and 316L Jindal CR 2B is at Rs. 355/kg.
• SS 201 J2 imported CR is being retailed at Rs. 133/kg, No.4 PVC finish at Rs. 136/kg, and No.8 mirror finish at Rs. 146/kg, FOR Delhi (plus GST).
• Rimjhim’s 201/202/RT grade is being offered at Rs. 124/kg, FOR Delhi basis. Rimjhim RT N1 2B is Rs. 113/kg basic, FOR Delhi, while RT N1 NBT grade is Rs. 115/kg basic (FOR basis).
• SAIL Salem’s 409M HR price is Rs. 117/kg, and 409M CR price is Rs. 127/kg, while SS-LNA prices are maintained at Rs. 133/kg ex-plant, plus GST.

Demand and Supply

• There is demand for 316L HR generic sizes and also for 304 CR and HR (generic sizes, in both conditions), but supply is short.
• Some demand exists for railway grade 409M in 2.5/3.0/4.0/5.0/6.0mm in HR condition.
• Demand can also be seen for 201 grade imported No.8 PVC mirror finish in 0.5mm, 0.6mm, 0.7mm, 0.8mm, 1.0mm, 1.2mm and 1.5mm in CR condition.
• Slight demand exists for 201 2B, but N4 PVC finish certainly has great demand, as usual. Some demand is being observed in 304 CR 2B narrow-width as well.
• The 400 series doesn’t have much demand, as usual, except for 409M grade HR quality ferritic Stainless Steel.

News

• The US Department of Commerce (USDOC) initiated the second sunset review of the anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) on drawn Stainless Steel sinks from China. Meanwhile, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) also launched the second AD and CVD five-year reviews on these products from China to determine whether the withdrawal of the existing AD and CVD orders on subject merchandise from China would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury to the domestic industry within a reasonably foreseeable time. The reviews were instituted on July 3, 2023. The deadline for interested parties’ responses is August 2, 2023, and comments on the adequacy of responses should be filed with the USITC by September 14, 2023.
• The US labor market is strong, which triggers concerns about continued Fed rate hikes. Automatic Data Processing (ADP) data showed that the US private sector employment rose by 497,000 in June, hitting the biggest monthly increase since last February. The strong job market in the US made the Nickel price slightly rise stably. The LME Nickel futures slightly rose by US$2 yesterday (July 6), closing at US$21,209/ton. The increase has reached US$693 so far this month, a hike of 3.4%. At the same time, the LME-monitored Nickel inventory decreased by 96 tons, coming to 38,268 tons.
• Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), a Stainless Steel manufacturer in Italy, decided to suspend production during the period from July 19 to August 23, which is longer than the traditional summer shutdown of August 7 to August 20, in response to higher production costs, low Steel prices, and weak sales.
• The production of cold-rolled Stainless Steel in China’s 34 mills amounted to around 1.23 million tons in June, falling by 3.22% compared to the previous month and rising by 12.1% from the year-ago level. The capacity utilization of these mills was 72.3%, a month-on-month decrease of 2.4%.
• In March 2019, Hebei Boyuan Technology Co., Ltd. applied to the Hebei government to build new lines with an annual capacity of 15,000 tons of Stainless Steel precision strips. Recently, the project’s documents were approved by the Department. The project will be constructed in two phases.

OFB’s Opinion

• SS 304 (both HR and CR) is expected to have some positivity this week but at lower price levels.
• The SS 200 and 400 series might have a dull run in the remaining days of the week.
• Stocking of 316L in HR condition is still expected to be a good proposition in generic sizes but at lower price levels.