SHANGHAI, Aug. 13 (SMM) – Massive explosives hit China’s northern city of Tianjin last night, and as one of six major domestic ports of nickel ore, will the blasts affect nickel ore market? 

“The leading impact of the explosion so far will be transportation of nickel ore to NPI factories from the port,” SMM’s nickel analyst says.  

SMM is told that transportation from the port has been suspended after the blasts, which happened in a warehouse storing dangerous and chemical goods in the port area of the city.  

“Price of nickel ore is not expected to rise due to weak demand, and current disruption of transportation will not affect the price much,” SMM explains.  

Goods from the Port of Tianjin are mainly transported to NPI producers in Inner Mongolia and Hebei, and factories there have built ore stocks enough for one-month production.

Besides, production at NPI producers in the two regions is now low, according to SMM survey. 

Last week, nickel ore inventories at the Port of Tianjin were 2.3 million tonnes, according to SMM data.   

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