Nickel Sulphate Prices to be 39,000-40,000 yuan/mt

SHANGHAI, Mar 6 (SMM) - The pricing method of NORNICKEL Nickel, the largest nickel producer in Russia, weighed on nickel prices. Accordingly, the minimum price difference between battery-grade nickel sulphate and first-grade nickel plates narrowed to 7,604 yuan/mt. According to SMM research, the cost of producing electrowinning nickel with nickel sulphate stood at about 5,000 yuan/mt. It can be seen that the electrowinning nickel producers got almost no profits. In addition, ternary enterprises received poor orders, and they were reluctant to purchase at high prices. And the companies, except for those which picked up goods according to the quarterly orders, mainly outsourced cheaper liquid nickel sulphate. However, nickel sulphate prices stood high. Due to the delay in the commissioning of new raw material production lines in Indonesia, the supply of raw materials is tight, and the processing fees less nickel sulphate prices have been reduced to 29,000 yuan/mt. The raw material costs remained high. Nickel sulphate supply, especially the crystal, was low as the nickel sulphate producers just resumed production in February. Therefore, nickel sulphate companies were less willing to lower their prices. To sum up, it is now at a critical moment of the game between buyers and sellers. In the short term, nickel sulphate prices are expected to fluctuate downward under the support of costs. The prices are expected to run between 39,000-40,000 yuan/mt this week.