Due to the rising nickel prices and China’s production restrictions, Asia’s cold-rolled stainless steel prices rose slightly last week. The base price of 304 2B hiked by US$25/ton in a week.

Nickel prices rose due to market concerns about Indonesia’s nickel supply after Foxconn announced to invest in domestic electric vehicle and battery manufacturing. China's domestic stainless steel production basically kept stable, but inventories dropped due to steel mills’ production curbs for the Winter Olympics.

In view of the recently high costs and decreased supply of stainless steel raw materials in China, stainless steel prices are likely to rise soon.

In terms of Taiwan, it was expected that Taiwan’s upstream stainless steel mills will hike their prices for March as Tsingshan has raised its prices. Besides, the future market of stainless steel was believed to be optimistic due to the reduced market inventory.