Stainless Steel (304) Price Trend and Forecast

Stainless Steel (304) Regional Price Overview

Get the latest insights on price movement and trend analysis of Stainless Steel (304) in different regions across the world (Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa).

Stainless Steel (304) Price Trend for the Q1 of 2024

Stay updated with the latest Stainless Steel (304) prices, historical data, and tailored regional analysis
 

Stainless Steel (304) Price Trend for the Second Half of 2023

Stay updated with the latest Stainless Steel (304) prices, historical data, and tailored regional analysis
 

Asia

Stainless Steel (304)’s market performance was quite positive during the second half of the year 2023. The prices were mostly found to be fluctuating; however, the overall market sentiments were largely optimistic. In the Indian market, the average monthly spot prices went from about 2495 USD/MT in July’23 to around 2568 USD/MT in December’23, registering a growth of approximately 2%.
 

Stainless Steel (304) Price Chart

Please Login or Subscribe to Access the Stainless Steel (304) Price Chart Data
 

In China, however, an increased production of steel in the concerned financial year brought the prices down. The supply and demand dynamics were largely at parity in the country, and thus, the market rates were found to be wavering within very narrow ranges throughout the said period. Overall, the regional dynamics for stainless steel (304) were largely mixed.

Europe

The European stainless steel (304) market was mostly riddled throughout the given span. The region’s domestic production took a hit as the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war impacted the supply chains and logistics. On the other hand, Israel and Hamas conflict curtailed the supply chains even more for European markets. The Black Sea deal was already off the table when the Red Sea crisis emerged. Houthis started attacking the ships in the Red Sea, which proved detrimental to the offshore trade of European markets. Overall, a tepid trend was witnessed for stainless steel (304) in Europe.

North America

Stainless steel (304) prices were found to be following a downward trajectory in the American markets. The monthly average prices went from about 2706 USD/MT (9% Min Ni) in July’23 to around 2188 USD/MT (9% Min Ni) in December’23. This caused a downfall of about 19% in the US stainless steel (304) market. Overall, dull market sentiments were observed in H2’23.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, Stainless Steel (304) is likely to show persistent regional variations in the coming quarters as well. The domestic and international outlooks are playing out differently for key stainless steel (304) markets.
 

Stainless Steel (304) Price Trend for the First Half of 2023

Asia

The price trend of stainless steel (304) fell consistently in the first and second quarters of 2023. The initial phase of the first quarter suffered from the rise in the level of inventories due to decreased demand from the downstream industries. However, after a long period of stagnancy in the Chinese market, manufacturing activities surged, but the sluggish movement of domestic and international markets hampered the rates of procurement.

Europe

In the first quarter, the market for stainless steel (304) was supported by lower import levels and rising inquiry rates that helped the prices to grow. Consumption and customer interest, however, lagged, and obstacles were presented by growing product inventories. The second quarter saw a temporary price increase brought on by rising material costs and improving automotive conditions. Nevertheless, prices decreased as a result of low-cost imports and global economic uncertainty.

North America

Similar to the trend of prices seen in European countries, the prices of stainless steel (304) were stable in the first quarter of 2023. However, the support from downstream industries declined in the second quarter under the pressure of recession, rising levels of inventories, and reduced interest of buyers in this sector. In the second quarter, the high cost of raw materials and slight gains in demand only supported the market trend during the initial phase, but soon, the debt crises, restricted purchasing potential of buyers, and uncertain market sentiments caused the price trend of stainless steel (304) to decline.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, the price trend of Stainless Steel (304) is expected to face southwards with falling demand dynamics and highly uncertain conditions of downstream industries.

Procurement Resource provides latest prices of Stainless Steel (304). Each price database is tied to a user-friendly graphing tool dating back to 2014, which provides a range of functionalities: configuration of price series over user defined time period; comparison of product movements across countries; customisation of price currencies and unit; extraction of price data as excel files to be used offline.