SMM September 25 – This week (September 19-25, 2025), the total stainless steel inventory in the Wuxi and Foshan markets showed a destocking trend, decreasing from 897,200 mt on September 18, 2025 to 909,000 mt on September 25, up 1.32% WoW.
This week, social inventory of stainless steel ended an 11-week consecutive destocking trend, halted the decline and rebounded slightly, with inventory again exceeding 900,000 mt, but it remained at a relatively low level for the year. Despite the current traditional peak consumption season of September-October peak season and the approaching National Day holiday, short-term macro tailwinds were largely released, SS futures pulled back, leading to an insignificant peak season effect. The cautious wait-and-see sentiment among downstream end-users in the stainless steel market intensified further, with purchase transactions relatively sluggish during the week. Additionally, affected by Typhoon Huajia Sha, cargo pick-up and transactions in the Foshan region faced some obstacles. Although the short-term cautious market sentiment was difficult to reverse, stainless steel mills were currently in a state of losses, and year-end macro policies remained largely favorable. A tug-of-war between longs and shorts made it difficult for stainless steel prices to rise or fall significantly. Subsequent downstream demand recovery needs close monitoring.
Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market exchanges, and relying on SMM’s internal database model, for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.
(Source)