SHANGHAI, Nov. 26 -- According to Customs statistics nickel imports in October 2008 were 0.7 million tons, up 30,000 tons from the previous month, imports from January to October were11.13 million tons, down 16% YoY. In October, imports of nickel ore from Indonesia were 0.42 million tons, with average unit price 81 U.S. dollars / ton, imports from Philippines were 0.21 million tons, with average unit price 62 U.S. dollars / ton. China's imports of nickel concentrate in October were 70,000 tons, among them imports from Botswana were 8304 tons, from Spain 22,000 tons, from U.S. 23,000 tons and from Australia 16,000 tons.

    From the main imports areas, imports of nickel ore were 0.2 million tons in Shangdong, of which 0.1 million tons in Rizhao Port; Fangchenggang in Guangxi imported 100,000 tons of nickel ore. There are still some nickel-iron enterprises in some areas in Guangxi and Guizhou, where more economically backward, and do not have very strict environmental protection requirements, so some companies still insist on production; Tianjin imports about 90,000 tons of nickel ore, mainly to Shanxi and Inner Mongolia; nickel imports in Henan Province were 50,000 tons; Sichuan imported nickel ore 38,000 tons, mainly used by South-west Stainless Steel itself. Nickel ore imports of Jinchuan were about 40,000 for several months.

    (Edited by CBI China)