Nickel market report October 2017

Contents

Abstract 1
1 Company news 1
1.1 Zhanhua Weiye Nickel closes ferronickel production 1
1.2 Zhengdali ferronickel to reduce ferronickel in Octobe 1
1.3 Sanxing Casting closes ferronickel production 1
2 Chinese market review 1
2.1 Prices for nickel cathodes up by a large margin 1
2.2 Ferronickel prices down first then up 2
2.3 Prices for nickel sulfate continuously goes up 3
2.4 Lateritic nickel ore prices goes up 3
3 International market review 4
3.1 LME nickel prices up further 4
3.2 Prices for Philippine lateritic nickel ore moves up 4
4 Production and stocks data 5
4.1 Chinese nickel cathode output up by 18.7% MOM in October 5
4.2 Chinese nickel sulfate output up by 2.1% MOM in October 5
4.3 Chinese nickel sulfate output up by 2.1% MOM in October 6
4.4 Chinese ferronickel smelter lateritic nickel ore stock down by 26.6% MOM in October 7
5 Analysis on Import and export data 7
5.1 China’s refined nickel and nickel alloy imports down by 16.9% MOM in August 2017 7
5.2 China’s ferronickel imports up by 7.2% MOM in September 9
5.3 Chinese lateritic nickel ore imports up by 21.2% MOM in September 10
5.4 China’s nickel hydrometallurgy intermediates imports up by 16% MOM in September 11
6 Market outlook 12
6.1 Nickel cathode 12
6.1 Nickel cathode 12
6.2 Ferronickel 12
6.3 Nickel salt 12
6.4 Lateritic nickel ore 12


GRAPHS

Graph 1 Jinchuan nickel cathode price in the Chinese spot market from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 2
Graph 2 Norilsk nickel cathode prices in the Chinese spot market from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 2
Graph 3 Inco nickel prices in the Chinese spot market from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 2
Graph 4 Delivered-to-plants prices for Chinese ferronickel 10%min from Sep to Oct (RMB/mtu) 2
Graph 5 Chinese ferronickel 1.5% EXW prices from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 3
Graph 6 Chinese battery grade nickel sulfate prices from Jul to Sep (RMB/t) 3
Graph 7 Chinese NCM 523 precursor prices from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 3
Graph 8 Chinese electroplating grade nickel sulfate prices from J Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 3
Graph 9 Chinese lateritic nickel ore 1.8%min prices in ports from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 4
Graph 10 Chinese lateritic nickel ore 1.5%min in ports from Sep to Oct (RMB/t) 4
Graph 11 LME nickel prices from Sep to Oct (USD/t) 4
Graph 12 Stocks for LME nickel from Sep to Oct (t) 4
Graph 13 CIF Prices for Philippine origin lateritic nickel ore 1.5% in China from Sep to Oct (USD/t) 4
Graph 14 CIF Prices for Philippine origin lateritic nickel ore 1.8% in China from Sep to Oct (USD/t) 5
Graph 15 Lateritic nickel ore stocks in China from Jan 2016 to October 2017 (kt) 7
Graph 16 China’s monthly imports for refined nickel from Jan 2016 to Aug 2017 (t) 7
Graph 17 China’s monthly imports for refined nickel by country from Jan 2016 to Aug 2017 (t) 7
Graph 18 China’s monthly imports for Philippines origin lateritic nickel ore from Jan 2016 to Sep 2017 (10kt) 10
Graph 19 China’s monthly imports for nickel hydrometallurgy intermediates from Jan 2016 to Sep 2017 (t) 11

Tables

Table 1 China’s NCM precursor outputs by province (t) 6
Table 2 China’s refined nickel imports in Sep 8
Table 3 China’s top 10 importers for refined nickel in Sep 8
Table 4 China’s imports for ferronickel in Sep 2017 9
Table 5 China’s top 5 ferronickel importers in Sep 9
Table 6 China’s imports for nickel ore in Sep 10
Table 7 China’s top 10 importers for nickel ore in Sep 11
Table 8 Top five Chinese importers of nickel hydrometallurgy intermediates in Sep 12









.Asian Metal Copyright9% MOM in August 2017 7 5Asian Metal Copyright