Posted on 07 Feb 2024
Chinese prices of nickel pig iron (NPI) kept stable over the past week, as transactions in the physical market stalled with the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 10-17 looming, Mysteel Global learned.
As of February 5, the price of 8-10% grade NPI in East China's Jiangsu province under Mysteel's assessment stayed at Yuan 940/mtu ($131/mtu) including delivery and the 13% VAT, the same level from one week before.
The domestic NPI market has been quiet as some smelters and NPI users have left the market to celebrate the CNY, sources said. For the remainder of this week, many NPI smelters will be holding their offering prices to be prepared for market changes after the long break.
As for the stainless market, spot sales of the high-end steel have come to a standstill and Chinese stainless mills are cautious about placing new orders for steelmaking raw materials such as NPI before the CNY break, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's latest weekly survey showed that total stainless inventories among the 50 warehouses in Wuxi and the 28 in Foshan – China's two core stainless trading hubs – rose significantly over January 26-February 1 to reach 850,026 tonnes, higher by 70,207 tonnes or 9% on week.
Meanwhile, nickel concentrate prices in China have remained stable with the scarcity of sales in the physical market. As of January 30, the price of Philippines-origin 1.3% nickel content concs was assessed at $27/t CIF Lianyungang port in Jiangsu, being unchanged since January 23, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Inventories of nickel concs at China's 14 major ports have steadily decreased, with the total volume down by another 145,800 tonnes or 1.3% on week at 10.9 million tonnes as of February 1, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey. Among the total, the volume imported from the Philippines reached 10.5 million tonnes, lower by 1.4% from the previous week, the survey result showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
