Stainless Steel Cold Rolled (CR) Coil prices increased in the US market during the week ending December 9, 2022, due to lower imports and higher raw material Nickel costs. According to market participants, Nickel prices have recovered slightly from their early-month rally, and price action on the positive side has backed the short-term range breakout. Prolonged gains in Nickel prices urged Stainless Steel CR market participants to be more bullish, potentially assisting the short-term uptrend to continue. Meanwhile, as December 2022 approached, Stainless Steel CR Coil volumes remained consistent. Meanwhile, at the end of this week, some Stainless Steel CR Coil manufacturers began to raise their January-February rolling coil quotations.

According to Stainless Steel CR Coil suppliers, the market is slightly more active this week, with limited import offers available. Imports of Stainless Steel CR Coil have slowed significantly in recent months due to lower service center shipments. Furthermore, several Stainless Steel CR Coil mills are retiring their blast furnaces and rolling mills. As a result, the availability of Stainless Steel CR Coil will be reduced further, raising the possibility of price increases. Also, some distributors still have stock that they bought at a lower price and are now eager to sell.

Some steel manufacturers believe that all Stainless Steel CR Coil products in the US could be oversupplied as early as March. Meanwhile, the number of import licenses has decreased, indicating that service centers, brokers, and distributors have reduced purchasing activity from overseas markets. As a result, the excess inventory situation will almost certainly be over-corrected, resulting in shortages until sufficient imports arrive to fill the demand-supply gap. Buyers of Stainless-Steel CR Coil were skeptical of a recovery in consumption early next year.

According to our sources, Western Australia's Nova Nickel mine will shut down for four weeks due to the weekend fire, disrupting production and increasing nickel prices on the global market. Furthermore, Stainless Steel CR Coil manufacturers expect Indonesia to reconsider resuming Nickel ore exports and tax collection. The downstream stainless-steel market began replenishing the warehouse with a small volume of goods, and the spot price was exorbitant.

Thus, ChemAnalyst expects Stainless Steel CR Coil prices to rise in the coming weeks due to demand directional uncertainty caused by the European downturn and the threat of a prolonged recession in the US market.