SMM, April 24,
On April 24, the average price of SMM8-12% high-nickel pig iron was 956 yuan/nickel point (ex-factory tax included), which was the same as the quotation on the previous working day. On the supply side, Indonesia is affected by the Ramadan and Eid holidays, the approval progress of RKAB has been suspended, the mining at the mine end has not been released, the raw materials of smelters are still tight, the cost support of ferronickel is strong, and the production ramp-up is slow. Due to the inversion of profits of domestic smelters, some of the current shutdown enterprises have not yet clarified the resumption time, and the amount of domestic circulating ferronickel is limited. On the demand side, near May, the demand for long-term raw material reserves of stainless steel mills has been released recently, and the market transaction price has risen, and a steel mill in South China today traded 990 yuan/nickel point (bilge tax included), and the delivery date was in May. To sum up, the rebound of stainless steel spot prices and the strong cost support of ferronickel are expected to be stable and strong in the short term.
