Cold Rolled Stainless Imports Surge Despite Higher Freight Rates

Despite the gloomy outlook plaguing the stainless steel market for over a year, mills continued to hold firm on base prices. Despite weak demand, the U.S. experienced a jump in cold rolled stainless steel imports from late 2023. Current market conditions in the U.S. remain weak, while longer lead times and higher freight rates serve as a considerable disadvantage for import demand. Since 2018, monthly imports from Vietnam averaged around 5.77% of total cold rolled stainless imports. Learn about how to utilize nickel and stainless prices forecasting and granular stainless price data to save your company money. Due to tariffs, cold rolled stainless imports from China remain a negligible portion of the total. The first five months of 2024 saw that average jump to 0.2%. While the total volumes from China appear meaningless with respect to domestic stainless supply and the market impact, the disproportionate increase suggests that demand conditions in China appear weak enough that prices can overcome U.S. duties.