Domestic apparent consumption of primary nickel is expected to hit a new high in Q2 due to the high cost effectiveness of briquette and NPI

SHANGHAI, May 19 (SMM)—China’s apparent consumption of nickel stood at 120,451 mt in April 2021. On the supply side, nickel briquette was more cost effective due to the short supply of intermediate products, and the value of iron contained in NPI kept rising. NPI will take a higher proportion in the raw materials of 300 series stainless steel as its price increase slows down. The demand from new energy industry increased as expected, which consumed the high output of 300 series stainless steel. Therefore, the apparent consumption of primary nickel is expected to rebound to a high level in Q2.

For calculation accuracy, the output of nickel sulphate with nickel briquettes as raw materials will be excluded. Output of nickel sulphate with scrap as raw material will also be excluded from primary nickel consumption. The import data of refined nickel indicate the import volume that flowed into the spot market.