Taiwan's domestic transaction prices of stainless steel flat products increased by NT$1,000~2,000/ton this week. Due to weak demand in China, the price of stainless steel decreased recently. In addition, the LME nickel price fell to US$26,487/ton yesterday, hitting the lowest level in two months.

Taiwanese stainless steel upstream manufacturers will announce prices for March next week. Therefore, downstream customers are taking a wait-and-see attitude for purchasing at this moment.

It was expected that the stainless steel demand will not be very active this week. However, the demand for 316L products was still good due to material shortage.