Shanghai bonded nickel stocks dipped 500 mt this week on outflow of cathode

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) – Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas shrank this week as a temporarily opened import arbitrage window on Monday triggered the outflow of some nickel cathode products to the domestic market. 

SMM data showed that inventories of pure nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas stood at 16,900 mt as of May 15, down 500 mt from May 8. Stocks of cathodes fell to 15,200 mt, while those of briquettes were unchanged at 1,700 mt.

The import losses again widened in the middle of the week as reduced Shanghai nickel futures weighed on the price ratio of SHFE/LME nickel. It is understood that no forward cargoes of refined nickel arrived at Chinese ports this week.