[SMM Daily Nickel Ore Review] Rainy season continues to affect nickel ore supply, with strong sentiment to stand firm on quotes among Indonesian mines

SMM News on May 7:

Philippine nickel ore: Today, the domestic market for Philippine laterite nickel ore showed mediocre performance, with mainstream transaction prices remaining at the pre-holiday levels. Today, the CIF price for Philippine laterite nickel ore with NI1.3% content is $44-45/wmt, and the FOB price is $34-36/wmt; the CIF price for ore with NI1.4% content is $52-53/wmt, and the FOB price is $42-44/wmt; the CIF price for ore with NI1.5% content is $60-61/wmt, and the FOB price is $50-52/wmt. In terms of supply and demand, on the supply side, all nickel ore loading points in the Philippines experienced 25mm~45mm of precipitation this week, which had a certain impact on mine loading. On the demand side, a stainless steel mill in South China conducted another tender for NPI yesterday, and the downstream NPI tender prices hit a new low. Given the deepening inversion, the sentiment for raw material procurement among domestic NPI smelters was dampened. Looking ahead, the domestic transaction prices for Philippine nickel ore may be dragged down by the downstream sector and operate under pressure.

Indonesia's local laterite nickel ore: This week, the SMM price for Indonesia's local laterite nickel ore with 1.3% content (delivery-to-factory price) is $25.5-26.6/wmt, and the price for ore with 1.6% content (delivery-to-factory price) is $52.6-54.6/wmt. Regarding the prices of ore used for pyrometallurgy, although the HPM price in May dropped slightly, the mainstream premium on Sulawesi Island in May rose to $26-28/wmt, and the absolute price of ore used for pyrometallurgy still increased. For ore used for hydrometallurgy, affected by the reduction in MHP production schedules in Indonesia in April, downstream smelters attempted to push down the prices of ore used for hydrometallurgy. After the Labour Day holiday, the FOB price for ore with NI1.3% content was adjusted down to $17/wmt, a decrease of approximately $2/wmt. Looking ahead, the rainy season on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia has not yet fully ended, while the rainy season on Halmahera Island has already begun. The continuous impact of the rainy season on nickel ore supply has led to strong sentiment among mines to stand firm on quotes. After the slight increase in the prices of ore used for pyrometallurgy, downstream NPI enterprises are facing a dilemma, while hydrometallurgy enterprises still have profit margins.

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