Posted on 23 Mar 2023
Chinese prices of nickel pig iron (NPI) are still under pressure this week amid negative market sentiment. As of March 22, the price of 8-10% grade NPI in East China's Jiangsu province was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 1,220/mtu ($177/mtu) including delivery and the 13% VAT, the same level from one week before.
Due to losses on NPI sales, many Chinese NPI smelters refuse to further trim their offering prices of this ferroalloy this week, and "some of them opted to lower their NPI production in response to softening demand from downstream stainless producers," a market source in Shanghai said.
Sentiment in the Chinese NPI market remains pessimistic, as stainless prices continue falling with lackluster sales in the physical market and high-level stainless stocks, forcing stainless mills to cut their buying prices of raw material feeds such as NPI, Mysteel Global learned.
As of March 22, the spot price of 304/2B 2mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi in Jiangsu under Mysteel's assessment came in at Yuan 16,450/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, losing another Yuan 300/t from the prior week.
Mysteel's latest weekly survey showed that inventories of finished stainless steel at 42 warehouses in Wuxi and 25 warehouses in Foshan, China's two core stainless trading hubs, accumulated again over March 10-16 after sliding for the previous two weeks, with the total volume climbing by 6,716 tonnes or 0.6% on week to 1.18 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, global nickel prices weakened further over the past week, aggravating negative sentiment in the Chinese NPI market. For example, as of March 21, the closing price of three-month nickel futures on the London Metal Exchange registered $22,514/t, down by another $526/t on week.
China's nickel concentrates prices maintain the downtrend this week due to shrinking demand from NPI smelters and expectations for the recovery in supply, with the price of Philippines-origin 1.3% nickel content concs under Mysteel's assessment slipping to $41/t CIF Lianyungang port in Jiangsu as of March 22, down $2/t from one week before.
Total inventories of nickel concs at China's 14 major ports emptied further to reach 7.69 million tonnes as of March 16, but the on-week fall had slowed to 0.2% as against the previous week's 3.3%. Within the total, the tonnage from the Philippines stood at 7.4 million tonnes, only lower by 1,200 tonnes on week, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
