SMM Data: Battery-Grade Nickel Sulphate Price Drops 200 Yuan/mt on August 14

[SMM Nickel Flash] August 14 news: SMM high-grade NPI market sentiment factor stood at 1.93, down 0.03 MoM; the high-grade NPI upstream sentiment factor stood at 2.06, down 0.01 MoM; and the high-grade NPI downstream sentiment factor stood at 1.80, down 0.04 MoM. High-grade NPI market sentiment weakened.

On its Q1 FY27 earnings call on August 4, India's Jindal Stainless (JSL) said reduced EU import quotas, not CBAM, are what will make its Europe volumes look smaller, adding it is confident of filling its quota allocation. On CBAM readiness, JSL said it has internationally accredited verifiers in place and is waiting on the EU to appoint verifiers, noting its scrap-based route — scrap feed is about 85-90% at Hisar and 70-75% at Jajpur, over 90% sourced from India and Southeast Asia. Exports are roughly 10-11% of volume, with Europe 30-40% and Europe plus the US around 60%; JSL is diversifying into Japan, South Korea and Brazil. India's anti-dumping public hearing is set for September 9, while the QCO suspension is expected to run to March 2027.

On its Q1 FY27 earnings call on August 4, India's Jindal Stainless (JSL) said its Indonesian RKEF nickel pig iron business remained EBITDA-positive for a second consecutive quarter, though management stressed the business is inherently volatile given nickel price swings and that its primary purpose is securing raw material availability rather than earnings. The comment came in response to an analyst question on Indonesia's revised nickel ore benchmark pricing and its margin impact. MD Abhyuday Jindal called peer moves into Indonesia a welcome development, citing SAIL's MoU with an Indonesian state entity for its Salem plant and POSCO's similar investment, arguing they validate JSL's own move years earlier given Indonesia's repeated signals on restricting nickel ore and NPI exports.