Nickel Prices Remained High and the Spot Transactions were Poor

SHANGHAI, Aug 8 (SMM) - Affected by the European energy crisis, the non-ferrous prices rose intensively. In terms of the fundamentals, China produced 16,000 mt of refined nickel in July, up 2.89% on the month and 29.71% on the year. Affected by the high prices of SHFE nickel last week, the SHFE/LME price ratio of pure nickel dropped, and some nickel briquette arrived at the ports and waited for customs clearance. From the demand side, nickel prices rose sharply after the significant drop in mid-July, hence terminal purchasers were mainly wait-and-see. Although the military sector still had rigid demand for pure nickel, the orders placed by alloy manufacturers in the civilian sector decreased. The spot premiums of pure nickel continued to contract last week, but affected by the high futures prices, the overall transactions were poor. In terms of nickel briquette, the demand for NMC battery has been booming amid the peak season of the new energy industry. Therefore, the output of nickel sulphate increased. Meanwhile, as some salt factories still purchased nickel briquette in the form of long-term orders, the demand for nickel briquette improved recently.