Bearish Sentiment and Limited Transactions in Nickel Ore Market

SHANGHAI, Oct. 11 (SMM) -- Price decline of nickel ore still failed to boost transactions of nickel ore, with sluggish transactions in nickel ore market reported on Tuesday.

According to traders, traded prices of spot nickel ore at ports are in the RMB 680-700/wmt at present. It was reported that costs for imported nickel ore were in the RMB 670-680/wmt range. By adding demurrage charges, costs for imported nickel ore may be even higher. In this context, some traders will suffer from losses if they move nickel ore at prices below RMB 680/wmt. In this context, some traders either moved a small amount of goods at prices near import cost, or waited to move goods when nickel ore prices rebound in the future.

According to NPI producers, inventories of NPI were high as stainless steel mills postponed purchases for NPI given that prices of high-grade NPI were higher than refined nickel prices. Coupled with debt crisis in the US and the EU and unclear trend of domestic economy, NPI produces still adopted a wait-and-see attitude and made purchases in a small amount.

At present, traded prices at Rizhao port for nickel ore (Ni 1.8%) were in the RMB 680-700/wmt range, between RMB 360-400/wmt for nickel ore (Ni 1.4-1.5%), RMB 480-500/wmt for nickel ore (Ni 1.5-1.6%, Fe 12-15% ), RMB 560-580/wmt for nickel ore (Ni 1.7%, Fe 12-15%), and RMB 370/wmt for nickel ore (Ni 0.9%, Fe 50%).