Recently, the prices of cobalt salt dipped again, and the transaction of cobalt salt has been scarce in the past month. Cobalt salt factories have accumulated large stocks of finished products. With the recent decline in the coefficient of recycled materials, such cobalt salt factories tend to be cautious in purchasing raw materials and focus on clearing their finished product stocks.

Shanghai nonferrous metals closed with gains amid a series of bullish news from the Working Meetings of the Political Bureau that emphasised stable economic development despite disturbance from COVID.

SMM Afternoon Comment: The delivery in Shanghai has recovered slightly. The certificated cargo holders were able to deliver but the vehicles were hard to find. In this case, the market hyped the export of Shuangyan, and its premiums soared. The overall transactions were modest today.

Premiums of #0 zinc were 27,860-27,910 yuan/mt for mainstream brands,140 yuan/mt higher than the premiums in Shanghai.

SHANGHAI, Apr 27 (SMM) - [SMM Morning Meeting: SHFE nickel remained high, and spot transactions improved slightly, but the overall supply and demand remained weak] Although macro negative factors still existed, SHFE nickel maintained a high as the shortage at the fundamental supply side still gave strong support to the nickel prices. In terms of supply, the domestic pure nickel supply remains tight as the customs clearance of pure nickel was still poor and the operation rate of domestic nickel has not been restored.

In March 2022, the procurement cost of coal, coke and iron ore and steel scrap all posted palpable growth. from January to March 2022, the cumulative procurement cost of coking coal increased by 74.03% year-on-year; metallurgical coke increased by 20.30% year-on-year; domestic iron ore concentrate decreased by 15.88% year-on-year and imported fines decreased by 23.93% year-on-year; pig iron increased by 11.06% year-on-year; and steel scrap increased by 13.66% year-on-year.

Xiamen Tungsten announced that it plans to build a new production workshop in its subordinate company,  Haijing Base of XTC New Energy.

[SMM Afternoon Comment: The trading recovered today, with a small number of transactions in the market] The #0 zinc transaction prices were 28,770~ 28,820 yuan/mt for mainstream brands, in premiums of 100 yuan/mt against Shanghai prices.

During the first quarter, the company realised operating income of 4.568 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.48%; net profit of 411 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.26%.

The total profit, net profit and output of iron ore concentrate have all hit the best level compared to the same period in previous years.