SMM4, January 1:
SMM battery grade nickel sulfate quotation has risen slightly in recent days. According to the latest offer from SMM on April 1, battery grade nickel sulfate quoted for 22500-23000 yuan / ton, with an average price increase of 250 yuan / ton from March 30 compared with last week.
Recent quotations for SMM battery grade nickel sulfate are on a downward trend until Monday (March 30).
From the supply side,
Due to the impact of the foreign epidemic, the arrival of nickel wet intermediate products may be delayed in April, and prices are expected to rise in May due to a shortage of raw materials, after it was reported that in order to stop the spread of the epidemic, the local government of Papua New Guinea said that from April, it would strictly enforce the isolation statement for ships to dock for loading. The arrival of nickel wet intermediate products due to be in China at the end of April has been notified to be delayed. According to the statistics of customs import and export data, the import volume of nickel wet intermediate products in Papua New Guinea accounts for 50% of the total import of domestic nickel wet intermediate products, so if the arrival is delayed, it will affect the domestic nickel sulfate production in May.
SMM expects that the total production of nickel sulfate will be reduced in April. According to SMM research, a nickel sulfate plant in North China will begin overhaul in early April, which will last about a month and will resume production in May. The overhaul is an annual planned overhaul and will reduce the production of battery grade nickel sulfate products by 3000-4000 tons. In addition, some nickel sulfate plants said they had plans to cut production in April.
The phenomenon of overstock in nickel sulfate plant has been alleviated compared with the previous two months, and most nickel sulfate plants are reluctant to continue to ship at a loss. According to SMM research, the order situation and capital liquidity of nickel sulfate plant have improved compared with the previous two months, and the phenomenon of excess inventory has also been alleviated with the increase of orders.
From the point of view of the demand side,
In the near future, the downstream demand of the precursor is concentrated but not increased, resulting in a concentrated demand for nickel sulfate procurement, and the downstream demand of the precursor has not increased, but the downstream judgment price of most of the precursor has fallen to the bottom of the valley, so the purchase demand of nickel sulfate is also concentrated in the precursor enterprises in the near future. as a result, the demand for nickel sulfate procurement by precursor enterprises has also increased, and the nickel sulfate plant has a collective pricing trend.
Some nickel sulfate plants in the past two days reported that this week downstream procurement inquiry and purchase intention is more positive than before. Due to the rapid changes in the nickel sulfate market recently, some downstream purchases have revealed concerns about the lack of supply in the later stage of the nickel sulfate market, or there may be hoarding considerations.
To sum up, on the one hand, due to the shortage of nickel sulfate in April, the demand end of nickel sulfate is worried about the late supply of nickel sulfate; on the other hand, the inventory and capital flow of nickel sulfate plant have also been alleviated to a certain extent in the near future, and the downstream orders of recent precursors are more concentrated, resulting in the concentration of demand for nickel sulfate procurement, and some nickel sulfate plants have a strong interest in the near future. However, the downstream demand of nickel sulfate demand side has not increased. Therefore, it is expected that in the short term, the price of nickel sulfate will pick up in a small range, but the room for increase is limited.
(SMM Sun Jiachan TEL: 021-51666865)
