SHANGHAI, Feb 18 (SMM) – The nickel ore inventory at Chinese ports dipped 400,000 wmt on week to 7.88 million wmt as of February 18. Total Ni content stood at 61,800 mt. The total inventory at seven major ports stood at around 3.76 million mt in Ni content, 400,000 mt in Ni contentlower than Friday February 11.

The port inventory of laterite nickel kept falling. The shipments leaving the Philippines were low in January and February at a level of less than 50 ships in each month. Downstream demand, on the other hand, picked up recently with the lift of environmental protection-related restrictions, hence the inventory is likely to drop more quickly.