Spot nickel trades remain poor despite lower prices

SHANGHAI, Aug 20 (SMM) – Spot nickel trades remained poor on Tuesday August 20, as overnight pull-back in prices of futures was insufficient to improve purchasing interest among downstream consumers.

Russian nickel was quoted in a smaller discount of 250 yuan/mt against the nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for September delivery, compared to 275 yuan/mt on Monday.

Jinchuan materials were in a premium of 900-1,000 yuan/mt, 100 yuan/mt higher than the previous day.

The producer, Jinchuan, lowered its offers for nickel plates in the Shanghai market by 1,600 yuan/mt from Monday to 125,000 yuan/mt, and most trades were done at 124,300-125,400 yuan/mt.

For ferrochrome, some northern producers plan to hike their quotes for high-carbon materials, as maintenance at a transformer substation in Fengzhen in north China’s Inner Mongolia affected power supply. Related alloy producers told SMM that the energy supply disruptions will have limited impact on their production.

At ports, prices of chrome ore held stable from last week, with mainstream quotes for spot South African concentrates with Cr 40-42% at 29.5-30 yuan/mtu. Forward cargoes were offered at $150-160/mtu.

Prices of stainless steel edged down on Tuesday, with Taiyuan Steel slashing guide prices for most its products by 100 yuan/mt.