Nickel Ore Inventories at Chinese Ports Fell 120,000 wmt WoW

SHANGHAI, Jul 1 (SMM) - As of July 1, port inventories of nickel ore in China dropped by 120,000 wmt to 5.044 million wmt compared with last week. The total Ni content fell by 1,000 mt to 39,700 mt. The increase in port inventory remained unstable and rangebound at low levels, and the nickel ore supply was relatively tight. The port inventory of nickel ore across seven major Chinese ports stood at 2.311 million wmt, 30,000 wmt lower than the previous week. The supply in the Philippines gradually becomes sufficient, but the sluggish downstream market cannot boost nickel ore imports. The decrease in inventory is probably contributed by the pick-up of goods of NPI plants. SMM expects that the short-term port inventory of nickel ore may remain at low levels. The tight supply cannot change, and the increase in inventory will be unstable in the short term.