WEEKLY: China's NPI prices move down further

Chinese prices of nickel pig iron (NPI) softened further this week, undermined by the negative sentiment in the domestic market, with the price of 8-10% grade NPI in East China's Jiangsu province under Mysteel's assessment sliding to Yuan 1,115/mtu ($158/mtu) including delivery and the 13% VAT as of May 24, down by another Yuan 25/mtu from one week before.

Although domestic NPI smelters were unwilling to trim their offering prices further, given the losses they had suffered, poor sales of stainless steel persuaded stainless producers to lower their procurement prices of the ferroalloy to reduce their production costs, Mysteel Global learned. Over May 12-18, total stainless inventories at the