Stainless Steel Price Trend and Forecast

Regional Price Overview

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

Stainless Steel Price Trend for the First Half of 2023

Asia

The high level of inventories and slow movement of the downstream industries caused the price trend of stainless steel to fall in the first quarter of 2023. The raw materials in the region also remained scarce, and the consumers also moved with caution, which ultimately led to a fall in industrial demand.

In April, an incline in the cost of nickel metal positively supported the price trend of stainless steel in China market. But soon, the excess supply attributed to the high extraction rates of the nickel and feeble demand from industries in the later months caused the price trend of stainless steel to decline.

Europe

In the first quarter, the prices of stainless steel were stable as the supply of the product was restricted while the demand from downstream industries remained high. In addition to this, the stainless-steel market in the first quarter was also supported by the raw material costs and return of consumption levels to the green zone. This trend continued till the first phase of the second quarter, after which the prices fell dramatically.

The upsurge in prices of nickel raw material negatively impacted the cost of production and, in turn, the price trend of stainless steel. Additionally, the downstream market’s appetite also declined, and the traders had to compete with the cheaper imports from Asian countries and thus were forced to reduce their prices.

North America

The North American region was positively influenced by the rise in demand for stainless steel from the construction industry amid the financial crisis. The rising costs of production due to the economic crises led to the fall in production rates of stainless steel and thus caused the depletion of inventories in the region. Just like the European region, the trend inclined till the first half of the second quarter but then declined as it was negatively impacted by the rising rates of inflation and the steep downfall of the economic conditions of the North American region.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, the price trend of Stainless Steel is estimated to follow a declining trajectory given the fluctuating global economic conditions and the subdued demand from the end-user industries.

Procurement Resource provides latest prices of Stainless Steel. 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.