China's mart for stainless raw mats mired in deep trough

The market for stainless steel raw materials in China entered a severe slump over the past week, with the steel producers demanding even lower prices for key materials such as ferrochrome (FeCr), nickel pig iron (NPI), and stainless scrap. The demands reflect the mills' concerns about mounting losses and lackluster end-user demand, Mysteel Global observed.

On Monday, Tsingshan Group, China's leading stainless steelmaker based in Zhejiang, drastically reduced its December bidding price for high-carbon FeCr by Yuan 700/tonne ($96.4/t), slashing this to Yuan 7,395/t (50Cr). This price cut was significantly larger than the Yuan 300/t reduction announced on November 15 by Taiyuan Iron and