EU stainless steel in short supply

In early February, stainless steel prices in the EU market rose further under the support of short supply. However, distributors said that the current market is overly strong, and the actual demand for restocking in the downstream auto industry and home appliance industry is indeed strong. The demand in these major application industries began to grow in the fourth quarter of last year.

At present, the delivery of some steel mills came to April or even May. Due to tight supply in the EU, distributors are purchasing from Asian mills as much as possible, and the dealt price is still lower than domestic mills' offer. The EU price of cold-rolled 304 stainless in the past week has increased by EUR 120-150/ton.