NPI Plant Maintenance: 100-150 Metal Content Tons to be Affected

On the supply side: Due to large import losses, NORNICKEL nickel, Sumitomo, NIKKELVERK nickel and Nickel briquette could not pass customs clearance, the market was in shortage of pure nickel.

A fire broke out in the ferronickel smelting furnace at the nickel smelter in southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia yesterday at 4:00 p.m. According to sources, the furnace is located in Konawe and belongs to the PT.Obsidian stainless steel mill. The fire is currently affecting only one smelting furnace production line. The output of one ferronickel production line is expected to be 650 mt/month in Ni content under normal production. The impact caused by the fire is not significant.

SHFE nickel is expected to move between 142,000-148,000 yuan/mt this week and LME nickel will fluctuate between $19,400-20,100/mt

Shanghai nonferrous metals mostly closed with gains as the market was boosted by the new of loosening house loans.

This is a roundup of China's metals weekly inventory as of November 5.

Shanghai base metals all went down in the overnight trading on Wednesday after the Fed announced to start the tapering of asset purchase in late November, while the stock decline supported the prices.

Shanghai nonferrous metals mostly closed in the positive territory as the market has been increasingly worried about the inflation.

Shanghai base metals were trending mixed on Thursday morning under the impact of the higher-than-expected US September CPI. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME performed similarly.

SMM data showed that China's refined zinc output stood at 508,900 mt in August, down 1.22% on the month and 0.04% on the year. Output from January to August was 4.04 million mt, a year-on-year increase of 4.47%. Alloy output at domestic refined zinc smelters in SMM’s survey sample registered 75,500 mt in August, up 80 mt on the month.

China’s copper cathode output increased month on month in October, as there was basically no maintenance at smelters and as large-scale smelters maintained high production in Q4. Although domestic copper scrap was in short supply in October, smelters kept relatively ample stocks of blister copper. Furthermore, as the new secondary copper policy took effect from November 1, concerns over copper scrap supply were eased.