The carbon steel in Taiwan's domestic market is strong, but the stainless steel market is relatively sluggish. However, as the recent LME nickel price has rebounded slightly, and the current circulation price has already reached the bottom, local distributors are trying to stabilize the market price.

Market participants pointed out that the year-end settlement of various companies has recently arrived, and it is estimated that there will be no new purchases until the first quarter of 2024, and the market would recover from March 2024.

In fact, the current inventory of downstream operators is very low, mainly due to market confidence, causing customers to make conservative purchases. This week, circulation and LME nickel prices are stable, and the market is waiting for new base prices for January 2024. Recently, the production costs of steel mills are still high, and their performance is under a loss-making situation, so the room for price cuts is expected to be limited.