Review and Forecast of Nickel Futures Market

SHANGHAI, Jul 14 (SMM) - Affected by the macro front, SHFE and LME nickel prices showed a downward trend in June as a whole. However, as LME nickel is still plagued by liquidity problems, the probability of sharp price fluctuations still exists. In terms of SHFE nickel, although the Fed is quite aggressive in interest rate hike, which put constant pressure on non-ferrous metals, nickel prices are more resilient with support from the low inventory. In terms of prices, though the domestic pandemic situation improved significantly in June, the demand for pure nickel in the alloy sector has been quite diverged. The military and aviation sectors, with support from the state and key projects, generated more demand for alloy, but the orders for civilian applications were not as good as before. Overall, the demand in the alloy sector was slightly muted. However, considering that the NPI and the intermediate product projects in Indonesia will continue to be put into operation, the supply of nickel is expected to turn surplus in the future, weighing on nickel prices in the long run.