SHANGHAI, Jun 12 (SMM) – Floods in three provinces of Sulawesi, Indonesia affected the loading of nickel ore at ports and production of local nickel pig iron (NPI) mills, an SMM survey found on Tuesday June 11. 

Floods that began at the beginning of June, following torrential downpours, mostly impacted Central Sulawesi where Chinese steel giant Tsingshan Group's Indonesian project is located.

Nickel prices are expected to trade robustly, rangebound in the short term as Indonesia floods grew concerns about delayed shipments of nickel ore and as stocks of refined nickel across SHFE-approved warehouses stood at lows, SMM believes. Fundamentals of nickel remained weak. 

Improved SHFE/LME nickel price ratios and an import margin of 1,000 yuan/mt are likely to trigger an influx of cargoes from the bonded stocks to the domestic market this week. 

On Wednesday June 12, the most-active SHFE July contract extended its increase from the previous day, and ended nearly 1% higher at 97,390 yuan/mt. This rebounded some 1.8% from the closing prices of 95,700 yuan/mt on June 6.