Posted on 23 Nov 2023
Chinese prices of nickel pig iron (NPI) declined steadily during the past week, undermined by negative sentiment in the domestic market, according to industry insiders.
As of November 21, the price of 8-10% grade NPI in East China's Jiangsu province under Mysteel's assessment had dropped below Yuan 1,000/mtu ($140/mtu) to reach Yuan 990/mtu including delivery and the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 40/mtu on week.
Market participants were not so optimistic about China's NPI market in the near term, Mysteel Global learned, after the latest trading price in the physical market had fallen to a new low for this year, aggravating the pessimistic mood and putting more pressure on prices of the ferroalloy.
Many domestic NPI smelters have slowed their production pace or stopped quoting completely, given the steeper losses they're suffering with the persistent fall in NPI prices.
However, domestic traders could still gain some profits on sales of NPI imported from Indonesia, which may have some impact on the domestic market if imports of the ferroalloy from there increase further, a market watcher in Shanghai warned.
Besides, stainless steel prices lost ground continuously this week, which persuaded Chinese stainless producers to cut their NPI procurement prices further to ease their cost pressure to some extent.
"Many stainless mills are trying to purchase (NPI) at Yuan 950/mtu this week," the Shanghai-based market source said.
As of November 21, the spot price of 304/2B 2mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi, a major stainless trading hub in East China's Jiangsu, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 14,450/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, sliding by another Yuan 600/t on week and recording the lowest since August 17 2020.
Meanwhile, Chinese nickel concentrate prices have kept stable so far this week after the prior week's drop, with the price of Philippines-origin 1.3% nickel content concs staying at $32/t CIF Lianyungang port in Jiangsu as of November 21, the same level from one week earlier, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Inventories of nickel concs at China's 14 major ports had decreased slightly to 12.94 million tonnes as of November 17, down 9,600 tonnes from the prior week, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey. Among the total, the volume from the Philippines registered 12.44 million tonnes, edging up 7,900 tonnes during the same period.
Source:Mysteel Global
