A recent survey conducted on July 5 reveals the cost and profit statistics for the production of 304 stainless steel. The costs of raw materials used in the smelting of 304 stainless steel have remained stable.
The prices per unit of key raw materials are as follows:
- Purchased high nickel iron remains at RMB 975 per nickel unit.
- High carbon ferrochrome is priced at RMB 8,900 per 50 base tons.
- Electrolytic manganese stands at RMB 13,700 per ton.
- Scrap 304 stainless steel in the Wenzhou area is priced at RMB 9,700 per ton (excluding tax).
The cost of producing cold-rolled 304 stainless steel through different processes shows a slight decline:
- The short process smelting cost is RMB 13,634 per ton, down RMB 13 per ton, a decrease of 0.1%.
- The cost using purchased high nickel iron is RMB 13,741 per ton, also down RMB 11 per ton, or 0.1%.
- The cost using low nickel iron and pure nickel is significantly higher at RMB 17,568 per ton, decreasing by RMB 93 per ton or 0.5%.
- Using in-house produced high nickel iron, the cost stands at RMB 13,783 per ton, down RMB 11 per ton or 0.1%.
The price of privately manufactured four-foot (2.0 cold-rolled) 304 stainless steel remains steady at RMB 14,000 per ton.
Profit margins from these processes show variations:
- The short process technique has a profit margin of 2.68%, an increase of 0.09 percentage points.
- Using purchased high nickel iron yields a profit margin of 1.88%, up by 0.08 percentage points.
- The process combining low nickel iron with pure nickel shows a negative profit margin of -20.31%, however, it improved by 0.42 percentage points.
- Employing in-house produced high nickel iron results in a profit margin of 1.57%, also increasing by 0.08 percentage points.
Research methodology definitions:
- Scrap Stainless Steel Process:Utilizes 304 scrap stainless steel as the primary smelting material, combined with other component ratios.
- Purchased High Nickel Iron Process:Employs purchased nickel iron as the main smelting ingredient, along with other component ratios.
- Low Nickel Iron + Pure Nickel Process:Uses a combination of low nickel iron and pure nickel as primary smelting materials.
- Cost:Refers to the cash cost of stainless steel smelting.
- Profit:The difference between the market price of stainless steel and its cash cost.
- Profit Margin:The ratio of gross smelting profit to the cash cost.