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Resumed Pure Nickel Capacity Starts to Yield Output, While Purchase Are Muted

iconJun 30, 2022 16:35
Source:SMM
SHFE nickel rose again today after closing last night’s session with gains. The contract closed the day with an increase of 2.55% to 176,090 yuan/mt. LME nickel, on the other hand, once dropped 1.5% in European trading hours, and recorded a loss of 0.61% as of 15:38 Beijing time.

SHANGHAI, Jun 30 (SMM) – SHFE nickel rose again today after closing last night’s session with gains. The contract closed the day with an increase of 2.55% to 176,090 yuan/mt. LME nickel, on the other hand, once dropped 1.5% in European trading hours, and recorded a loss of 0.61% as of 15:38 Beijing time.

Spot market

The average spot price of SMM #1 refined nickel stood at 188,900 yuan/mt, up 2.89% today.

According to SMM research, premiums of Jinchuan nickel were 9,000-10,000 yuan/mt today June 30 with an average of 9,500 yuan/mt, down 500 yuan/mt from yesterday. NORNICKEL nickel was offered at 5,500 yuan/mt, down 350 yuan/mt from a day ago. Falling premiums were the result of rally of SHFE nickel last night and today.

On the supply side, supplies from nickel sulphate manufacturers that resumed the production of pure nickel earlier started to enter the market, and some imports are likely to arrive this week. For NPI, falling nickel ore prices have mitigated the losses of NPI plants, but those who have high-priced nickel ore stocks still suffer from high cost, which may control the cost by purchasing low-priced ores. But the overall profit of NPI plants was still narrow.

On the demand side, the spot market was quiet in Wuxi and Foshan despite easing pandemic situation, and steel mills still purchased based on orders on hand. Therefore, it is unclear when the prices could rebound. For alloy, the overall purchases were muted as the manufacturers also purchased according to the orders received.

To sum up, nickel prices are likely to stay rangebound with few changes on the supply and demand side.

Market

For queries, please contact Michael Jiang at michaeljiang@smm.cn

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