Chinese ferronickel market sees decreasing transactions
2024-03-15 10:13:01 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 15 Mar 24 - This week, given continuous decreasing stainless steel prices, steel mills show receding interest in purchasing high-grade ferronickel 10%min. On Thursday, mainstream prices of Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min stood at RMB950-970/mtu (USD132-135/mtu), unchanged from last Friday. The current high-grade ferronickel market sees notable reducing deals as most downstream consumers prefer to wait on the sidelines, so insiders believe that prices for Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min would move down in the following week.
A producer in East China revealed that this week his downstream clients show much lower interest in purchasing high-grade ferronickel 10%min and he has concluded no deals for one week, while in mid-to-late February he made sales every week. "On Thursday, we offered RMB970/mtu (USD135/mtu) for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and could accept a concession of RMB10/mtu (USD1.39/mtu) if clients buy in large quantities, unchanged from last Friday. We didn't close deals so far this week and last sold 60t at RMB990/mtu (USD138/mtu) one week ago," the source said, believing that prices for Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min might move down in the coming week as downstream consumers take a wait-and-see attitude at the moment.
With an annual production capacity of 200,000t, the producer produced about 166,000t in 2023 and expects to produce about 13,000t in March, compared with 12,000t in February. He holds no stocks now
A trader in East China indicated that over the recent week steel mills show shrinking demand for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and he has concluded no deals for ten days, while in mid-to-late February he made sales every week. "On Thursday, we offered RMB970/mtu (USD135/mtu) for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and could accept a concession of RMB10/mtu (USD1.39/mtu), the same as last Friday. We closed no deals yet so far this week and last sold 1,000t at RMB980/mtu (USD136/mtu) ten days ago," the source said. Considering that there are limited deals on the current high-grade ferronickel market as consumers prefer to wait on the sidelines, he believed that prices for Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min might drop in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of about 30,000t and holding about 5,000t of stocks now, the trader expects to sell 30,000t in March, up from around 20,000t in February.
A producer in East China revealed that this week his downstream clients show much lower interest in purchasing high-grade ferronickel 10%min and he has concluded no deals for one week, while in mid-to-late February he made sales every week. "On Thursday, we offered RMB970/mtu (USD135/mtu) for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and could accept a concession of RMB10/mtu (USD1.39/mtu) if clients buy in large quantities, unchanged from last Friday. We didn't close deals so far this week and last sold 60t at RMB990/mtu (USD138/mtu) one week ago," the source said, believing that prices for Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min might move down in the coming week as downstream consumers take a wait-and-see attitude at the moment.
With an annual production capacity of 200,000t, the producer produced about 166,000t in 2023 and expects to produce about 13,000t in March, compared with 12,000t in February. He holds no stocks now
A trader in East China indicated that over the recent week steel mills show shrinking demand for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and he has concluded no deals for ten days, while in mid-to-late February he made sales every week. "On Thursday, we offered RMB970/mtu (USD135/mtu) for high-grade ferronickel 10%min and could accept a concession of RMB10/mtu (USD1.39/mtu), the same as last Friday. We closed no deals yet so far this week and last sold 1,000t at RMB980/mtu (USD136/mtu) ten days ago," the source said. Considering that there are limited deals on the current high-grade ferronickel market as consumers prefer to wait on the sidelines, he believed that prices for Chinese high-grade ferronickel 10%min might drop in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of about 30,000t and holding about 5,000t of stocks now, the trader expects to sell 30,000t in March, up from around 20,000t in February.
