SHANGHAI, Apr 28 (SMM) – According to the latest customs data, China imported 28,800 physical mt of intermediate products of nickel hydro-metallurgy in March 2021, up 5% from the previous month, and up 79% from the previous year. Total imports rose 87% year on year to 85,500 physical mt.

According to the customs import data of China's intermediate products of nickel hydro-metallurgy in March, the four major importing countries are Papua New Guinea, with an import volume of 55% (the Ramu project intermediate product), Australia with an import volume of 22% (the first quantum project intermediate products), New Caledonia with an import volume of 8% (Goro project intermediate products), Finland with an import volume of 7% (Terrafame project intermediate products). Among them, Papua New Guinea’s consignee registration places are shown as Guangdong, Guangxi and Hebei, Australia’s consignee registration places are shown as Gansu, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei and Zhejiang, and Xinka’s consignee registration places are shown as Gansu, Hunan and Zhejiang.

In addition, the unit prices of imported intermediate products of nickel hydro-metallurgy excluding taxes in March increased month on mont. Unit prices in Finland increased 20% month on month, and unit prices in other places rose all less than 10% month on month. According to SMM survey, the demand of the new energy industry in the second quarter of 2021 for nickel sulphate will continue to be strong, and the demand for intermediate products of nickel hydro-metallurgy will remain high.