SMM Nickel Market Morning Comment Fully (Apr 2)

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 131,190 yuan/mt, and closed at 131,600 yuan/mt, up 680 yuan/mt. Trading volume fell by 207 lots to 225,854 lots, and open interest decreased by 9,381 lots to 107,817 lots. The most-traded SHFE nickel contract fluctuated downwards after opening. After falling to the intraday low of 129,050 yuan/mt, it closed up 0.91%.

Nickel: On April 1, Jinchuan premium reported 2800-3000 yuan / mt, with an average price of 2900 yuan/mt, unchanged compared to the previous trading day. Russian nickel premium quotes -600 to -200 yuan / mt, the average price of -400 yuan / mt, compared with the previous trading day, down 150 yuan / mt. Nickel on the SHFE oscillated in the morning, and overall spot market transactions weakened. In addition, according to SMM research, this week's nickel supply is increasing due to the pace of overseas nickel plate arrivals. The price of nickel beans today is 125,800-126,800 yuan/mt, with a decrease of 600 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Besides the price of nickel sulfate is 13,473 yuan/mt higher than that of nickel beans.

Nickel Sulfate: On April 1st, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulfate index price was 30,650 yuan/mt, unchanged from the previous working day. Battery-grade nickel sulfate prices range from 30,500 to 31,000 yuan/mt, with an average unchanged from the previous working day. The inquiry activity has weakened slightly, and the procurement of nickel salts by precursor companies in early to mid-April is approaching completion. The transaction is around the average price. Affected by the downward fluctuation of nickel prices, the psychological price for downstream nickel salt purchases has slightly decreased, but affected by the tight supply and demand of nickel salts, the current transaction price remains stable.

Ferronnickel: On April 1st, the average price of SMM 8-12% NPI was 930 yuan/mtu (including tax), with a decrease of 1.5 yuan/mtu from the previous working day. From the supply side, although the approval speed of nickel ore quotas has recently increased significantly, it still takes time from the mine to the smelter, so it is expected that ferronickel production during March will still be at a low level. This week is the first trading week of April, combined with the impact of the Qingming Festival holiday in the middle of the week, the upstream and downstream are still in a deadlock, and the market has a cautious sentiment. From the demand side, except for a steel mill in South China that is still purchasing, other domestic steel mills have no purchasing intentions, and transactions are still dominated by buyers' markets. Overall, the weak demand in the stainless steel terminal continues to cause a cumulative trend in the supply side, and the current ferronickel prices are weak.

Stainless Steel: On April 1st, affected by the significant plunge in futures, today's spot prices of stainless steel fell again. Among them, 200 & 400 series remained unchanged, 304 cold-rolled prices dropped 50 yuan/mt in the morning, and market transactions were light with a slight decrease again in the afternoon, but there's still room for negotiation. Some private 304 cold-rolled prices even fell below 13000 yuan/mt, with most hot-rolled prices in Wuxi ranging from 12,700 to 12,800 yuan/mt. In the short term, it is expected that the 300 series stainless steel price will continue to be weak. In the morning of the same day, the price of 304 cold-rolled stainless steel in Wuxi was 13,300-13,700 yuan/mt, 304 hot-rolled stainless steel in Wuxi was 12,750-12,850 yuan/mt, 316L cold-rolled stainless steel in Wuxi was 24,000-24,300 yuan/mt, and 201J1 cold-rolled stainless steel in Wuxi was 8,700-8,800 yuan/mt. 430 cold-rolled stainless steel in Wuxi was 8,100-8,200 yuan/mt. At 10:30, the SHFE SS2405 contract price was 13,235 yuan/mt, with a premium of 235-635 yuan/mt for stainless steel spot prices in Wuxi (cut-off =raw dege + 170 yuan/mt).