Nickel Sulfate Market is Current Weak

In July 2024, Indonesia's nickel hydrometallurgy intermediate products output was 22,600 mt in metal content, down 12.06% MoM, up 79.37% YoY, with a cumulative YoY increase of 104.78%.

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 137,630 yuan/mt, and closed at 137,090 yuan/mt, up 470 yuan/mt compared with the last trading day. Trading volume increased by 32,962 lots to 222,839 lots, and open interest decreased by 4,638 lots to 85,742 lots. The most-traded SHFE nickel contract fluctuated downward to the lowest point of 135,680 yuan/mt after opening, and rebounded gradually, with the final increase of 0.85%.

SHFE nickel performed well last week. Since March 28, the nickel price has risen for five consecutive days. As of April 3, it grew to 133,450 yuan/mt. Recently, the nickel ore quota is still the center of attention.

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 139,600 yuan/mt, and closed at 137,460 yuan/mt, down 2,490 yuan/mt. Trading volume fell by 15,008 lots, and open interest decreased by 859 lots. On the macro front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits stood at 209,000 in the week ending Mar 9, lower than the market forecast and previous value, indicating that the US job market recovered. Fundamentally, Indonesia said that it had completed the approval of 107 companies, and the progress of nickel ore approval accelerated. The market's expectations for tight supply of raw materials began to weaken, so the prices fell sharply in the afternoon. In addition, according to SMM research, the tight output of intermediate products is expected to ease in April. Nickel price is expected to be go down.

There's a shortage of MHP supply, with limited circulation.

March 6th, SMM's battery-grade nickel sulfate index price was 29,029 yuan/ton, up 191 yuan/ton from the previous working day, and the price of battery-grade nickel sulfate was 28,800-29,400 yuan/ton, with an average price increase of 200 yuan/ton from the previous working day.

On February 5, the opening price of the main Shanghai nickel contract was 126,870 yuan/ton and the closing price was 124,860 yuan/ton, down 1,570 yuan/ton from the closing price of the previous trading day. Intraday trading was stronger than the previous trading day, with a volume increase of 70,756 lots and an increase of 5,982 lots.

From the perspective of downstream precursors, there is currently no obvious raw material gap, and the price of nickel sulfate is still at a relatively high level, so there is a strong wait-and-see attitude. The current market activity is weak.

Market activity was still weak at the beginning of the week, with a strong wait-and-see attitude among upstream and downstream players. The current supply and demand of nickel sulfate are weak, and there is no change in today's quotation.

On the supply side, spot goods are tight and salt factories are worried about raw material supply problems, so there is a phenomenon of holding back the goods, and the mentality of supporting prices is getting stronger. On the demand side, downstream inquiries are active, but transaction activity is weak. The psychological price gap between upstream and downstream has widened again.