Spot nickel premiums continue to fall as futures prices rally

SHANGHAI, Oct 23 (SMM) – Shanghai spot nickel premiums extended their decline in Wednesday morning trades, as prices of futures rose following a fatal accident at major nickel producer Norilsk Nickel’s mine in Siberia.

In the Shanghai spot market, Russian nickel was offered in a premium of up to 150 yuan/mt over the front-month nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for November delivery, compared to 100-200 yuan/mt on Tuesday morning.

The premium for Jinchuan materials fell from 400-500 yuan/mt a day earlier to 200-400 yuan/mt.

The SHFE 1911 nickel contract climbed nearly 4% to a high of 134,240 yuan/mt overnight, before it gave back some gains this morning.

The Chinese producer Jinchuan raised its spot offer for Shanghai market by 2,400 yuan/mt to 131,900 yuan/mt on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s accident at Norilsk Nickel’s Taimyr underground mine in Siberia killed at least three people, but did not affect facility operation, said the company.

Nickel futures on the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange remained in a wide discount against their counterparts on the SHFE, driving downstream buyers to offers based on futures on the Wuxi bourse. This subdued spot trades in Shanghai and helped lower spot premiums as major traders in Shanghai offered relative to futures on the SHFE.