不锈钢：价格反弹至前高，后市如何？

Report Summary 1. Report Industry Investment Rating - Not provided in the content 2. Core View of the Report - After nearly four months of consolidation, the stainless steel market is regaining upward momentum, and it is expected that this year's peak - season market may exceed seasonal norms and show stronger performance. The multi - wheel drive includes the continuous optimization of the supply - demand structure at the industrial level and the synchronous improvement of the domestic and foreign economic environment at the macro level. The systematic repair of market expectations will provide more lasting support for stainless steel prices than just supply - demand improvement [6][21]. 3. Summary by Related Content Price and Market Sentiment - Since the Trump administration's tariff increase policy in early April 2025, stainless steel futures prices have been at a low level, even dropping to the 12,000 - yuan mark. With the improvement of the domestic commodity market sentiment and industry prosperity, the prices have recovered the April 7th high [3][6]. - The basis between the spot and futures of stainless steel in Wuxi and Foshan is in a reasonable range, with strong linkage between the futures and spot markets and no obvious price divergence. Supported by the steady recovery of demand, the spot market quotation shows a mild upward trend, and the trading atmosphere has improved [7]. Cost and Profit - The prices of upstream ferronickel and ferrochrome have remained stable recently, providing relatively stable support for the production cost of stainless steel. Under the double benefits of steadily rising spot prices and stable raw material costs, the profit margin of steel mills has been gradually repaired, and some loss - making steel mills have turned losses into profits [7]. Supply and Demand and Inventory - Affected by seasonal weak demand, the market could not digest the previous supply, resulting in low trading volume, high inventory (both implicit and explicit), and a significant blow to steel mills' production enthusiasm, leading to many production cut announcements in early July [14]. - With increased production cuts by steel mills and the release of macro - favorable policies, the stainless steel futures market stabilized and rebounded first, driving up spot prices. The supply contraction expectation increased, and the spot market adopted a price - stabilizing and sales - promoting strategy, resulting in improved trading volume in July and a gradual decline in inventory levels [14]. Macroeconomic Factors - The M1 - M2 gap is continuously narrowing, and the M1 growth rate has significantly increased recently, indicating an increase in corporate current deposits, higher market trading activity, and a strengthening investment willingness in the real economy. Although key indicators in the downstream real estate industry are still in negative growth, the decline is narrowing, showing signs of bottoming out. Speculative demand has increased significantly due to improved market expectations, which is expected to support stainless steel prices [17].