SMM Nickel Market Daily Review (2015-8-19)

SHANGHAI, Aug. 20 (SMM) – SMM #1 nickel prices were between RMB 80,200-81,000/mt. Discounts of Jinchuan nickel against the most actively traded contracts on the Wuxi electronic trading were RMB 100/mt in the morning. The price spread between Russian and Jinchuan nickel narrowed to RMB 300-400/mt. Both downstream buyers and traders refrained from buying, leaving trading muted, with traded prices between RMB 80,000-80,500/mt. Nickel futures prices rallied in the afternoon, growing downstream purchases. Shipments of Jinchuan nickel (99.9%) arriving were snapped up due to lower prices. But sales for 99.96% Jinchuan nickel were slow. Jinchuan Group is expected to ramp up production of 99.9% nickel to gain market share. Traded prices were between RMB 80,100-80,600/mt. Jinchuan lowered price by RMB 1,500/mt to RMB 80,300/mt.