The global stainless steel market navigated a series of sharp sentiment. The opening weeks saw Indonesia's mill closures and price hikes push the cost narrative to its highest point of the year, before a combination of easing geopolitical tensions triggered the first price reduction since December 2025. The month's defining characteristic was similar to April's. What differentiated May was the sharply higher amplitude of both the policy signals and the emotional swings that accompanied them.

[SMM Daily Review: Tight Supply Bolsters Willingness to Hold Prices Firm, NPI Price Center Rises] June 15 — SMM's high-grade NPI upstream sentiment factor was 2.74, up 0.01 MoM, and the downstream sentiment factor was 1.84, up 0.02 MoM.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] Stainless Steel Futures Stabilize, Spot Trades Pick Up SMM reported on June 12 that SS futures stopped falling and stabilized. News of easing US-Iran conflict emerged again, nonferrous metal futures generally staged a recovery, and SS strengthened in tandem. As of midday close, the most-traded SS contract was quoted at 14,715 yuan/mt. In the spot market, driven by the strengthening of SS futures, market activity improved. In the morning session, both inquiries and transactions recovered, and traders raised their offers. The most-traded SS futures contract pulled back. At 10:15 a.m., SS2607 was reported at 14,705 yuan/mt, up 300 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi ranged from 365-915 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coil in Wuxi remained flat; for cold-rolled 304/2B trimmed edge coil, the average price in Wuxi rose 50 yuan/mt, and in Foshan rose 50 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi fell 200 yuan/mt; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil in Wuxi was flat; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan held steady. This week, stainless steel futures and spot prices both declined under pressure, as macro headwinds outside China dominated the market and off-season pessimism spread quickly. The industry’s outlook expectations weakened, end-users remained on the sidelines, and rigid demand stayed sluggish. Traders concentrated on selling to destock and offered discounts. On the futures front, overseas macro developments were the core driver this week. The US non-farm payrolls data significantly exceeded expectations, the unemployment rate stayed low, and the market delayed or even canceled expectations for a US Fed interest rate cut within the year…

As of now, the Indonesia MHP nickel FOB price is $16,398/mt Ni, and the Indonesia MHP cobalt FOB price is $51,302/mt Co. The MHP payables (against SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index) is 85-86, and the MHP cobalt element payable indicator (against SMM refined cobalt (Rotterdam warehouse)) is 95. The Indonesia high-grade nickel matte FOB price is $16,485/mt Ni.

On June 15, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price slightly rose.

[SMM Nickel Flash] The average price of SMM 10-12% high-grade NPI declined WoW by 1 yuan/nickel unit to 1,143.1 yuan/nickel unit (ex-factory, tax included), while the average Indonesia NPI FOB index price fell WoW by $0.35/nickel unit to $147.33/nickel unit. This week, the NPI market was overall weak, with futures trends becoming the core factor affecting spot pace. Trading throughout the week was generally light, price divergences were significant, and structural gaming persisted throughout.