"Domestic stainless steel firms are stepping up maintenance in the first quarter, while affected by the Spring Festival holidays and Beijing Winter Olympics; overall production is expected to be limited," analysts with Jinrui Futures wrote in a note.
Meanwhile, stainless steel is also underpinned by nickel prices cue to tight spot cargoes, a Huatai Futures note showed.
The most-actively traded stainless steel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for February delivery, jumped 4.3% to 17,745 yuan ($2,785.41) per tonne as of 0330 GMT.
Other steel prices on the Shanghai bourse also gained.
Construction used steel rebar, for May delivery, inched 0.3% higher to 4,512 yuan a tonne.
Hot rolled coils futures, used for cars and home appliances, edged up 0.3% to 4,657 yuan per tonne.
The China Iron and Steel Association said on Monday China's 2021 crude steel output was expected to fall to 1.03 billion tonnes from a record of 1.065 billion tonnes, reaching a "supply and demand balance".
Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 1.9% to 718 yuan per tonne. Spot 62% iron ore for delivery to China, however, slipped $1 to $127.5 a tonne on Monday, according to SteelHome consultancy. Dalian coking coal futures fell 1.2% to 2,259 yuan a tonne and coke prices declined 2% to 3,115 yuan per tonne.
($1 = 6.3707 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 "steel, exports")
