1. Stainless Steel Inventory Continues to Decline
On January 15, 2026, regional market stainless steel inventory totaled 118,500 metric tons, down 9.09% week-on-week. Cold-rolled stainless steel inventory stood at 25,850 metric tons, decreasing 1.67% week-on-week; Hot-rolled stainless steel inventory totaled 92,610 tons, down 10.96% week-on-week. Regional inventories overall declined this week, with cold-rolled stocks seeing a slight decrease and hot-rolled stocks experiencing a more significant drawdown. Both cold- and hot-rolled 200-series products saw inventory absorption. Weekly price hikes for 200-series products coupled with limited new arrivals this week kept transactions at a slow pace. For the 300 series, hot-rolled inventory saw a more substantial reduction. During the week, influenced by Indonesia's nickel ore policy, futures prices rose significantly, prompting spot market price hikes, though transaction feedback fell short of expectations. The 400 series experienced substantial inventory drawdowns, with favorable news driving price increases and sustained inventory digestion.
As of January 15, 2026, domestic stainless steel shipments in transit totaled 32,823 tons across 11 vessels, an increase of 2,322 tons from the previous period. Shipments originated from Fujian ports (24,967 tons) and Jiangsu ports (7,856 tons). From January 8 to January 15, domestic stainless steel arrivals totaled 103,169 tons, up 12,242 tons from the previous period. Foshan received 49,283 tons (up 24,405 tons); Jingjiang received 9,000 tons (down 18,694 tons); Wuxi received 44,886 tons (up 6,531 tons).
2. Total stainless steel inventory decreased by 2.22% week-on-week
On January 15, 2026, total social inventory of stainless steel across 89 warehouses in major national markets stood at 927,200 tons, down 2.22% week-on-week. Cold-rolled stainless steel inventory totaled 573,400 tons, up 0.44% week-on-week, while hot-rolled stainless steel inventory totaled 353,900 tons, down 6.25% week-on-week. This period marks the seventh consecutive weekly decline in social inventory across major domestic markets. Resources across the 200, 300, and 400 series saw varying degrees of absorption. With limited new arrivals this week, spot prices rose amid futures price gains and restocking expectations. However, downstream buyers maintained cautious purchasing, mostly buying only as needed, resulting in a slight slowdown in overall resource absorption compared to last week.
As an integrated internet platform providing benchmark prices, on January 16th, the SunSirs' benchmark price for stainless steel was 14,366.67 RMB/ton, an increase of 11.60% compared to the beginning of the month (12,873.33 RMB/ton).
Application of SunSirs Benchmark Pricing：
Traders can price spot and contract transactions based on the pricing principle of agreed markup and pricing formula (Transaction price=SunSirs price + Markup).
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