The Price of Nickel Spot is Changing

What is the roles of nickel played in stainless steel?

Nickel is the essential allying element in the 300 series stainless steel grades. The presence of nickel results in the formation of an “austenitic” structure that gives these grades their strength, ductility and toughness, even at cryogenic temperatures. It also makes the material non-magnetic. While the role of nickel has no direct influence on the development of the “passive” surface layer, it results in significant improvement in resistance to acid attack, particularly with sulfuric acid. So that the price of nickel affected the price of stainless steel.  

It is reported that SHFE nickel spot price dropped slightly on October 8,while the transaction was light.

Spot nickel was offered at 135,800-136,100 yuan/mt on October 8, down 1250 yuan/mt compared to last trading day. Jinchuan nickel was quoted at discount of 500 yuan/mt against Wuxi 1910 nickel contract and a premium of 200 yuan/mt over SHFE 1910 nickel. Russian nickel was offered at a discount of 800 yuan/mt over Wuxi 1910 nickel contract and at discount of 100 yuan/mt over SHFE 1910 nickel.

SHFE 3M nickel shocked weakly at open in early trade on October 8,and market activity players most held cautious attitude.

In the NPI market, offers for Ni 8-12% NPI were at 1,210-1,240 yuan/mtu, and 1,200-1,230 yuan/mtu for Ni 7-10% NPI, rose 10 yuan/mtu from previous trading day.

For refined nickel, the future market trends toward to downward and the whole transaction limited on October 8.The spot nickel price drop, and the market held cautious attitude.

For downstream stainless steel market ,some players down price, and most market players held cautious attitude .In the short term, the volatile situation probably continued.