On May 16, premiums of Jinchuan nickel were 10,800-11,500 yuan/mt.

Prices of cobalt products fell across the board in April, with cobalt sulphate and cobalt chloride prices down 12% and 10% month-on-month respectively.

On May 12, premiums of Jinchuan nickel were 11,000-11,500 yuan/mt.

The operating rates of copper rod plants using copper scrap were 52.09% between May 8 and May 12, a surge of 9.38 percentage points from a week earlier, according to SMM survey of 15 plants with a capacity of 1.48 million mt/year). During Labour Day holidays, some copper rod plants using copper scrap as raw materials were forced to shut down due to the difficulty of purchasing raw materials. But they did not suspend purchasing raw materials during and after the holidays. Adequate raw materials enabled these plants to resume production last week, growing the average operating rate.

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) - Transactions remained thin in nickel sulphate market as ternary precursor plants still restocked only as needed.

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) - The prices of lithium carbonate extended gains last week.

Stainless steel prices remained low last week, with spot #304 dipping about 150 yuan/mt WoW.

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) - With alumina and coal prices showing no signs of stabilising, aluminium costs will still have room to fall in the short term.

Nickel prices moved with some downward potential yesterday because of the poor downstream demand and trades amid economic recession.

SHFE 2306 lead opened at 15,300 yuan/mt today and once dropped to 15,270 yuan/mt.