Spot Premiums of Refined Nickel Declined at the End of July

SHANGHAI, Jul 27 (SMM) - In the spot market, Jinchuan nickel was quoted at premiums of 8,500-9,000 yuan/mt as of July 27, with an average price of 8,750 yuan/mt, down 2,750 yuan/mt from a day ago. Premiums of Russian nickel was quoted at 7,500-8,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 7,750 yuan/mt, down 2,500 yuan/mt from the last trading day. As the end of July approached, most traders rushed to lower the premiums to deliver goods. In terms of nickel briquette, the prices were 173,000-174,000 yuan/mt,  4,750 yuan/mt lower than the previous trading day. The prices dropped along with falling futures prices, and the cost efficiency of producing nickel sulphate with briquette was also poorer than intermediates. Coupled with the fact that the mainstream raw material for alloy is mainly nickel plate, the transactions of nickel briquette were extremely scarce.