Nickel ore imports continue to grow in Sep

SHANGHAI, Oct 22 (SMM) – China imported 7.22 million wmt of nickel ore in September, with 30,000 wmt of sulphide ore and 7.19 million wmt of laterite nickel ore, showed data from China Customs.

For laterite nickel ore, about 4.89 million wmt were from the Philippines and some 2.04 million wmt were from Indonesia. Those accounted for 96% of the overall laterite nickel ore imports.

Lower-grade nickel ore imports with nickel content averaging 0.89% accounted for 1.7 million wmt and higher-grade materials with nickel content averaging 1.65% accounted for 5.44 wmt. About 3.26 million wmt of higher-grade nickel ore came from the Philippines and nickel content averaged 1.6%. About 1.97 million wmt of higher-grade nickel ore were from Indonesia and nickel content averaged 1.73%.

For higher-grade materials, 1.61 million wmt entered Shandong and nickel content averaged 1.57%; 1.11 million wmt with average nickel content of 1.75% entered Jiangsu and 430,000 wmt with average nickel content of 1.66% entered Fujian; Guangdong saw about 280,000 wmt flowing in with nickel content averaging 1.72%.