【Nickel Prices Showed a Slightly Strong Trend on the First Day After the Holiday, Spot Premiums Saw Overall Small Declines】February 19th, Jinchen spot premiums were reported at 3300-3800 yuan/ton, with an average of 3550 yuan/ton, down 1150 yuan/ton compared to the previous trading day. Russian nickel spot premiums were quoted at -100 to 200 yuan/ton, with an average of 50 yuan/ton, remaining unchanged from the previous trading day...
SMM News on February 19th:
On February 19th, Jinchen spot premiums were reported at 3300-3800 yuan/ton, with an average of 3550 yuan/ton, down 1150 yuan/ton compared to the previous trading day. Russian nickel spot premiums were quoted at -100 to 200 yuan/ton, with an average of 50 yuan/ton, remaining unchanged from the previous trading day. Today is the first day after the holiday, and the morning market showed a volatile trend. Overall, it saw a slight increase compared to the last day before the holiday, while spot premiums for different brands showed that Jinchen spot premiums were affected by the tight spot supply in the Shanghai area before the holiday, with a relatively high increase, but actual transactions were limited. Today, the price of nickel beans was 122,700-122,900 yuan/ton, up 750 yuan/ton from the previous trading day, with the price difference between nickel beans and nickel sulfate of about 982 yuan/ton. (The price of nickel sulfate is 982 yuan/ton higher than that of nickel beans).
Nickel Sulfate: On February 6, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulfate index price was 26,963 yuan/ton, up 340 yuan/ton from the previous Thursday. The price of battery-grade nickel sulfate was 26,800-27,600 yuan/ton, with an average increase of 300 yuan/ton from the previous Thursday. The price of nickel sulfate continued to rise slightly this week. Starting this week, most transactions in the nickel sulfate market were based on SMM's slightly flat to average flat water pricing. Currently, there is limited spot supply available for sale, and downstream ternary precursor companies still have demand for nickel sulfate during the Spring Festival period. Therefore, at the point where spot supply is scarce in the market, the price of nickel sulfate rose again. On the cost side, the current market MHP spot supply is not abundant. This week, MHP prices remained at 76-78, with transaction prices maintained at around 76-77, and cost support still exists. Looking ahead, with the arrival of the Spring Festival, procurement activities have stopped, but it is expected that downstream companies will start to replenish raw materials for March orders after the holiday. With the low operating rate of salt factories in February, the tight supply and demand situation is unlikely to significantly ease, so it is expected that the price of nickel sulfate will continue to be strong after the holiday.
