There is a sharp rise in nickel prices recently due to capital factors as the short term fundamentals of nickel pig iron (NPI) and stainless steel exceeded expectations, boosting the spot prices of related products. On the other hand, Indonesian NPI resources are eroding the share of the domestic NPI market. The SMM nickel team gives a near term outlook on the NPI market.

The most actively traded stainless steel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced more than 3% to a more than three-week peak of 13,195 yuan/mt in morning trade, on track for the first weekly gain in five weeks.

Prices of spot manganese have not received significant support from the resumption of downstream demand and have extended their slide this week. SMM expects the prices will remain weak with pressure from elevated inventories of #200 cold- and hot- rolled stainless steel.

It has been more than 3 months after China is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and restrictions on industrial activities and transportation were the harshest in February. During this period, SMM is continuously tracking market recovery on the metals market. Please see our detailed findings for the nonferrous metals sector below. We will keep you posted on the latest happenings via our website www.metal.com and our social media channels on Linkedin and Twitter. Please register for our webinars in March as we continue to connect you with the latest happening in the China ferrous and nonferrous metals market. The next session is happening on Wednesday March 18, 5pm CST, where we present to you a macro update of the resumption of metals industry as China recovers gradually from COVID-19 , with a deep-dive in the ferrous metals markets.

You can join our webinar on the latest impact from the virus, and a deep dive into the ferrous metals market (steel and iron ore), tomorrow ( February 19) at 5PM China time

Some 20,000 mt of #200 stainless steel output is expected to be impacted

Stainless steel output cuts may unlikely to reverse the overall supply glut

The collaboration among the three is set to be a relevant development in China’s stainless steel industry

China produced 2.47 million mt of stainless steel last month

China’s major six producers of #200 stainless steel mills announced to cut output from December, SMM learns.