What is the impact of listing stainless steel futures?
The listing of stainless steel futures makes entities no longer use nickel futures for hedging, but truly own their own mainstream varieties. Stainless steel itself is the most important variety in China special steel industry. In 20 18, China's stainless steel output reached 267 10000 tons, making it the largest stainless steel producer and consumer in the world. Accordingly, such production means the same consumer market, so stainless steel futures must also be introduced.
Historically, nickel is one of the main chemical components of stainless steel. Chromium-nickel stainless steel (300 series) is widely used because of its good performance, and the output of representative variety 304 stainless steel accounts for more than 80% of the output of 300 series. Therefore, in the past, the pricing of stainless steel was based on nickel, and the stainless steel industry also mainly used nickel futures to hedge. With the weakening of the correlation between nickel price and stainless steel price, hedging with nickel futures can no longer meet the needs of hedging, while stainless steel futures can meet the needs of enterprises.
To sum up, the current listing of stainless steel futures has a far-reaching impact on the entire stainless steel industry, making it easier for manufacturers to adjust the entire production plan and sales plan.