China FeNi, NPI imports soared 243%YoY in March

SHANGHAI, Apr 22 (SMM) – China imported 333,000 mt of ferronickel and NPI in March, up 242.53% year on year and 41.17% month on month, according to SMM calculations based on data from China customs.

Those imports contain about 53,000 mt of nickel, with NPI accounting for 70%.

Indonesia remained the biggest supplier, followed by South Korea and Columbia. The pandemic crisis did not affect ferronickel production and exports from Indonesia, and NPI flows to China maintained stable growth.

China’s imports of Indonesian NPI are expected to continue to expand in the second quarter as smelters in the Southeast Asian country will ramp up the commissioning of new capacity.

In the first three months of 2020, China’s FeNi and NPI imports jumped 107.25% from the same period last year.