SMM Nickel Market Morning Review (2015-5-12)

On the first trading day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, downstream processing enterprises in the central China market showed limited stockpiling sentiment, and stockpiling for the National Day holiday had largely concluded. Although SHFE aluminum futures edged lower again, overall trading activity in the market remained sluggish. Suppliers leaned toward selling quickly to clear inventory, with little inclination to hold prices firm, and transaction prices continued to decline. Ultimately, actual transaction prices in the central China market were around a discount of 20-70 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum October contract.

A special seminar on the Dakcheung bauxite and alumina integrated project in Xekong Province was recently held in Vientiane, Laos. Officials from Laos and Vietnam attended the meeting together with the project development team, conducting in-depth discussions on core topics such as standardized project operation and management, production technical specifications, and local workforce placement, with a particular focus on assessing the ecological and environmental risks and community livelihood impacts after the project is put into operation. The Dakcheung bauxite integrated project is the largest mining investment project Vietnam has deployed in Laos, with a total investment of $1 billion. Once the first phase is completed and put into operation, alumina production is expected to reach 1 million mt per year, with formal commissioning planned for 2028.

Inner Mongolia Wanjiang Investment Group, together with Xinjiang Sanbao Industrial Group, signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Abai Region of Kazakhstan to jointly advance the implementation of a large-scale green electricity aluminum smelter construction project. The total investment of the project is $1 billion, with a designed annual capacity of 300,000 mt. It will be supported by a 1GW large-scale wind farm to ensure clean energy supply for aluminum production throughout the entire process. According to the construction plan, the aluminum smelter is expected to start construction in March 2027 and be fully completed and put into operation in December 2028. Once completed, it will effectively fill the capacity gap for high-end aluminum products in Kazakhstan.