In the spot market, Jinchuan nickel was quoted at premiums of 6,500-7,000 yuan/mt as of September 14, averaging at 6,750 yuan/mt, which was down 1,150 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

As of September 9, the SMM Imported Copper Concentrate Index (weekly) stood at $81.96/mt, $2.71/mt higher than last week.

At the beginning, as the premium in Tianjin rose slightly amid falling zinc prices, traders actively made shipments and downstream enterprises purchased on dips.

For alloy, nickel plate inventory dropped significantly last week maid improving order book, but the demand weakened again amid rising premiums. To sum up, pure nickel supply tightened to some extent recently, offering support to nickel prices in the near term.

Shanghai nonferrous metals closed with losses as the market players were still weighing the hawkish speech from Fed Chair Powell last Friday, indicating that the tight monetary policy is needed for some time. And ECB management committee Kazaks also said the ECB should raise interest rates by at least 50 basis points in September.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Peru predicted that copper prices might drop from $3.90/lb on average this year to $3.40/lb in 2023. Peru is the second largest copper producer in the world.

On August 24, the average price of spot EMM in the main producing regions across China stood at 14,500-14,700 yuan/mt, up 100 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

According to the customs data, China's imports of tin ore and concentrate stood at 23,064 mt in July, up 21.17% YoY. The imports totalled 151,272 mt from January to July, up 39.72% YoY.

As of last Friday, the DMC Prices stood at 20,800-21,000 yuan/mt, up 1,850 yuan/mt or 9.7%.

On August 22, spot premiums of Jinchuan nickel were 5,300-5,500 yuan/mt. The average price stood at 5,400 /mt, down 350 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.