Nickel Prices to Have Support from Peak season in March

Entering March, the negative news pushed nickel prices to as low as 180,000 yuan/mt. From a fundamental point of view, due to the large volumes of customs clearance in February and the still weak downstream demand, the spread on premiums between seaborne pure nickel and domestic Jinchuan pure nickel expanded rapidly during the first ten days of March. It is expected that domestic electrowinning nickel output will continue to increase in March. As domestic electrowinning nickel is on par with NORNICKEL nickel in terms of quality, the market share of the latter has been squeezed.

In this scenario, the premiums of NORNICKEL nickel fell precipitously. As of March 10, the spot premiums of NORNICKEL nickel dropped by nearly 53.27% compared with the beginning of the month, while those of Jinchuan nickel plate, whose market share was immune to electrolytic nickel plate, dipped only 16.36%. It is expected that the downward space of nickel prices may narrow in late March, mainly because nickel prices have dropped sharply due to the impact of negative news at the beginning of the month.

Besides, the current pure nickel inventory has not yet seen a large accumulation, and the impact of the peak season in the second half of the month may give some support to nickel prices.