Shanghai bonded nickel stocks unchanged in closed import arbitrage window

SHANGHAI, Apr 24 (SMM) – Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas were unchanged this week, as the import arbitrage window remained closed.

SMM data showed that inventories of pure nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas stood at 17,900 mt as of Friday April 24, unchanged from a week earlier. Stocks of cathodes also held stable at 16,200 mt, while those of briquettes stayed at 1,700 mt.

There were close to 1,000 mt of nickel cathode and briquette arriving at Chinese ports recently, and these arrivals have gone through the process of customs clearance and will not flow to bonded warehouses.

SMM learned that there were a smaller number of transactions of imported nickel under bills of lading done this week.