Chinese nickel cathode market sees soft demand
2023-03-10 11:47:49 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 10 Mar 23 - This week, affected by the continuous decline in the price of nickel cathode, downstream consumers waited on the sidelines towards the market. On Thursday, mainstream prices for Chinese nickel cathode 99.96%min stood at RMB194,000-195,000/t (USD27,858-28,002/t) delivered D/P, down by RMB1,400/t (USD201/t) from Wednesday. Insiders noted that at present downstream consumers keep cautious in building stocks and only make purchases upon orders, and expect that prices for Chinese nickel cathode would hover at the current level in the coming week.
A trader in East China mentioned that at present their daily sales volume is only about 50t, basically stable compared with late February, and the demand of downstream customers continued to remain weak. "We could accept the price as low as RMB194,000/t (USD27,858/t) D/P on Thursday and offered RMB195,500/t (USD28,074/t) on Wednesday without any counteroffer. We sold 3t at the price of RMB194,300/t (USD27,901/t) EXW D/P today and 1.5t at RMB195,800/t (USD28,117/t) EXW D/P on Wednesday", the source noted, adding that due to the impact of the continuous decline in the price of nickel cathode, the enthusiasm of downstream consumers to build stocks is not high currently, and expects that prices for Chinese nickel cathode would remain relatively stable in the following week.
Based on a monthly trading volume of about 300t, the trader sold around 190t in February and expects to see a sales volume of 300t or so in March, holding about 30t of stocks for the time being.
A trader in South China claimed that in early March, they obviously felt the weakened purchase volume from downstream consumers, and the order volume was about 20% lower than that in early February. "We can accept the price as low as RMB194,000/t (USD27,858/t) D/P for nickel cathode on Thursday, and refused to sell at a price lower than RMB195,400/t (USD28,059/t) D/P on Wednesday. We closed no deal today and sold 5t at RMB198,400/t (USD28,490/t) EXW D/P on Tuesday", the source said, adding that currently downstream customers of nickel cathode are cautious in purchasing, and their willingness to build stocks is not high, and expects that prices for Chinese nickel cathode would fluctuate at a low level in the forthcoming week.
With a monthly trading volume of about 300t, the trader sold around 180t in February and plans to sell about 200t in March, holding about 14t of stocks for the moment.
A trader in East China mentioned that at present their daily sales volume is only about 50t, basically stable compared with late February, and the demand of downstream customers continued to remain weak. "We could accept the price as low as RMB194,000/t (USD27,858/t) D/P on Thursday and offered RMB195,500/t (USD28,074/t) on Wednesday without any counteroffer. We sold 3t at the price of RMB194,300/t (USD27,901/t) EXW D/P today and 1.5t at RMB195,800/t (USD28,117/t) EXW D/P on Wednesday", the source noted, adding that due to the impact of the continuous decline in the price of nickel cathode, the enthusiasm of downstream consumers to build stocks is not high currently, and expects that prices for Chinese nickel cathode would remain relatively stable in the following week.
Based on a monthly trading volume of about 300t, the trader sold around 190t in February and expects to see a sales volume of 300t or so in March, holding about 30t of stocks for the time being.
A trader in South China claimed that in early March, they obviously felt the weakened purchase volume from downstream consumers, and the order volume was about 20% lower than that in early February. "We can accept the price as low as RMB194,000/t (USD27,858/t) D/P for nickel cathode on Thursday, and refused to sell at a price lower than RMB195,400/t (USD28,059/t) D/P on Wednesday. We closed no deal today and sold 5t at RMB198,400/t (USD28,490/t) EXW D/P on Tuesday", the source said, adding that currently downstream customers of nickel cathode are cautious in purchasing, and their willingness to build stocks is not high, and expects that prices for Chinese nickel cathode would fluctuate at a low level in the forthcoming week.
With a monthly trading volume of about 300t, the trader sold around 180t in February and plans to sell about 200t in March, holding about 14t of stocks for the moment.
