Shanghai stainless steel jumps on rising raw material prices, post-holiday demand

BEIJING: Stainless steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 2.5% on Tuesday, gaining for a second straight session, fuelled by rising raw material prices and expectations of strong demand after the Chinese New Year holidays.

"Recent Chinese nickel pig iron output continued to fall, nickel pig iron prices steadily rose stainless steel costs will remain at high levels," an analyst with Huatai Futures wrote in a note, adding that the market is optimistic about consumption after the holidays.

The most active stainless steel contract, for April delivery, rose 2.2% to 14,590 yuan ($2,254.50) a tonne as of 0330 GMT, after hitting as much as 14,315 yuan a tonne earlier in the session.

Construction material steel rebar and hot rolled coil, used in the manufacturing sector, also gained.

The May contract of rebar gained 0.4% at 4,317 yuan a tonne and hot rolled coil rose 1.7% to 4,440 yuan a tonne.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.2% at 1,044 yuan per tonne.

  • Coking coal futures rose 0.3% to 1,625 yuan a tonne while coke fell 0.9% to 2,703 yuan a tonne.

  • Spot prices of iron ore with 62% Fe content for delivery to China was unchanged at $171.5 per tonne on Monday, according to SteelHome consultancy.

• COVID-19 outbreaks in northern China will have some impact on industries but will not lead to manufacturing shutdowns, said Huang Libin, an official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at a media briefing on Tuesday.

• Britain's Liberty Steel, Europe's fourth-largest steelmaker, said on Monday it had submitted an updated offer for German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp's steel division.