The monthly stainless steel metal index (MMI) is up 6.0% this month as ATI made a major announcement and China boosted imports of stainless steel from Indonesia.
On December 2, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) announced that it was withdrawing from the market for standard stainless steel sheet products. This move reduces the availability of standard 36″ and 48″ width materials. This announcement is part of the company’s new business strategy. ATI will focus on investing in the ability to invest in value-adding products, primarily in the aerospace and defense industries. ATI’s exit from the stainless steel commodity market has also left a void for 201 series materials, so the base price of 201 will rise more sharply than either 300 or 430 series materials. ./lb. Find out why technical analysis is a better predictive method than fundamental analysis and why it matters to your stainless steel purchases.
Meanwhile, from 2019 to 2020, Indonesia’s exports of stainless steel products increased by 23.1%, according to data released by the World Bureau of Metals Statistics (WBMS). Slab exports increased from 249,600 tons to 973,800 tons. At the same time, the export of rolls fell from 1.5 million tons to 1.1 million tons. In 2019, Taiwan became the largest consumer of Indonesian stainless steel exports, followed by China. However, this trend has reversed in 2020. Last year, China’s imports of stainless steel exports to Indonesia increased by 169.9%. This means that China receives 45.9% of Indonesia’s total exports, which is about 1.2 million tons in 2020. This trend is likely to continue in 2021. China’s stainless demand growth is expected to accelerate as part of the country’s 14th Five-Year Economic Plan.
Base prices for stainless flat products rose in January due to increased demand and reduced capacity. The base price of the 304 will increase by about $0.0350/lb and the base price of the 430 will increase by about $0.0250/lb. Alloy 304 will mark up $0.7808/lb in January, up $0.0725/lb from December. Demand for stainless steel has remained strong over the past few months. Despite the fact that the plant is not operating at full capacity, sales have increased. Instead, their delivery times are long. This resulted in destocking in the US stainless steel market after several months of destocking in the downstream sector and manufacturers’ warehouses.
Allegheny Ludlum 316 stainless steel added 8.2% mom to $1.06/lb. The markup on the 304 rose 11.0% to $0.81 a pound. Three-month primary nickel on the LME rose 1.3% to $16,607/t. China 316 CRC rose to $3,358.43/t. Similarly, China 304 CRC rose to $2,422.09/t. Chinese primary nickel rose 9.0% to $20,026.77/t. Indian primary nickel rose 6.9% to $17.36/kg. Iron chromium rose 1.9% to $1,609.57/t. Find out more on LinkedIn MetalMiner.
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