SHFE Nickel Expected to Fluctuate

Pure Nickel: On the macro side, the data focused on last week released by the institute of Supply Management showed that the PMI index recorded 54.5 in August, which was higher than market expectations of 52.5 and higher than July's 52.7. The data shows that the current risk of inflation in the United States still exist, and the market's expectations for the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes have increased. After the release of the data, the U.S. dollar index and U.S. Treasury bond yields rose significantly. Commodities collectively weakened, and the non-ferrous sector was under pressure. SHFE Nickel ended the upward trend during the week. On the evening of September 6th, the dive took place downward. Overseas pure nickel continued to be sold at a discount during the week, and Jinchuan nickel premiums continued to fall. This was mainly due to the arrival of overseas nickel plates during the week, but the spot market transactions were still weak. From the demand side, in terms of stainless steel, according to SMM research, 300 series stainless steel was affected by the suspension of production at some steel plants during the week, and the demand for pure nickel was limited. However, it is expected that the production of 300 series stainless steel will increase by 60,000 tons in September, a month-on-month increase of 3.57%, which is expected to support the demand for nickel plates. In the alloy sector, military orders are still growing steadily, but the small increase in civilian alloy orders has limited support for the demand for pure nickel. The industry wildly believes that civilian orders will further decline in September. It is expected that the growth rate of pure nickel demand in the alloy sector in September will be limited due to the decline in civilian orders. In summary, the supply side of pure nickel has shown a tight logic recently, but weakening demand is expected to provide insufficient support to nickel prices. However, the current intermediate products are affected by the short-term increase in volume, tight supply, and the emotional impact of the Indonesian nickel ore quota incident. Nickel prices still have certain support in the short term. SHFE Nickel is expected to fluctuate this week.

Written by SMM Nickel Research, if you have any questions about the nickel market, please don't hesitate to talk with me Fancyli@smm.cn