China’s output of refined nickel shrinks 32% in Jan

SHANGHAI, Feb 14 (SMM) – China produced 12,100 mt of refined nickel in January, up 1.44% from a year earlier, an SMM survey showed.

Compared to December, output of refined nickel in January was down 32.05% as producers’ rush to meet annual production and sales targets boosted December’s output and as exiting inventories, the Lunar New Year holiday and a seasonal lull prompted producers to curtail production in January.

China’s output of refined nickel is expected to rebound by some 10% on the month to stand at 13,300 mt in February.

In January, NPI output in China climbed 2.68% from a month earlier to stand at 42,600 mt in Ni content, up 15.33% on a yearly basis.

On a month-on-month basis, output of high-grade NPI expanded 2.9% to 39,200 mt in Ni content last month, bolstered by output from the newly-commissioned capacity of a major producer in Shandong. The restart of a northern plant and production recovery from maintenance at plants in the east, south and north also helped offset the impact from maintenance at some plants in the south and north.

For low-grade materials, output remained barely changed at 3,400 mt in Ni content last month.

Overall output of NPI in China is expected to rise 1.36% to 43,100 mt in Ni content in February, with that of high-grade materials up 1.47% to 39,800 mt in Ni content, in anticipation of output growth from the newly-commissioned capacity of the large producer in Shandong.

Output of low-grade NPI is likely to hold stable at 3,400 mt in Ni content.

Last month, China produced 9,504 mt in metal content of nickel sulphate, which translated to 43,200 mt in physical content.

Compared to a month earlier, production expanded 2.61% in January, driven by output across precursor plants.

Margins on nickel sulphate that is produced by nickel powder or briquettes and growing precursor output prompted precursor plants to produce nickel sulphate.

With stable supplies of nickel sulphate, ternary precursor producers’ actively restocking raw materials for the holidays kept the nickel sulphate market in China in a tight supply-demand balance in January.

Jinchuan Group put 35,000 mt/year of nickel salt capacity into production at the end of December, in a bid to offset the output decline, caused by the shutdown of its another plant, called Jinco Nonferrous Metals.

The new capacity can produce 25,000 mt of nickel chloride and 10,000 mt of nickel sulphate per year, in line with the capacity of Jinco Nonferrous Metals.

The holidays and maintenance are expected to lower output of nickel sulphate in China by 8.45% in February.