Nickel Ore Inventories at Chinese Ports up 20,000 wmt WoW

SHANGHAI, Aug 5 (SMM) - As of August 5, port inventories of nickel ore in China increased by 20,000 wmt to 6.32 million wmt compared with last week. The total Ni content stood at around 50,000 mt. Port inventory of nickel ore across seven major Chinese ports stood at 3,008,000 wmt, 160,000 wmt lower than last week. Ore inventory at Lianyungang port declined sharply, while inventory at other ports rose. According to the SMM survey, shipments of ores from the mines were poor owing to the falling ore prices. However, the ocean freight was high, thus the mines cut their production amid the narrow profit margin. Downstream NPI prices remained rangebound at low levels due to the oversupply, putting pressure on the ore prices. The short-term port inventory of nickel ore will hover around the current level, and the supply and demand may be weak.