Price trend

According to the monitoring of nickel prices by SunSirs, nickel prices rose first and then fell this week. As of the weekend, the spot nickel quotation was 152,366.67 RMB/ton, a decrease of 2.47% from the beginning of the week and a year-on-year decrease of 12.23%.

According to the weekly rise and fall chart of SunSirs, nickel prices had fallen 6% and risen 6% in the past 12 weeks, with a slight decline in nickel prices recently.

LME nickel inventory

As shown in the above figure, LME nickel inventory had recently slightly increased, with 84,042 tons of LME nickel inventory as of the weekend, up 2.7% from the beginning of the week.

On a macro level, the latest meeting minutes released by the Federal Reserve convey a hawkish attitude, suggesting that the possibility of future interest rate hikes still exists, which had led to a strong rebound in the US dollar index. At the same time, the market's expectations for the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut had changed. Previously, the decline in inflation had led the market to generally expect a rate cut to be implemented in September, but now it seems that this expectation had been challenged by the cautious attitude of Federal Reserve officials.

In terms of supply: Due to the public's anti epidemic activities in New Caledonia last week, the global nickel supply had been disrupted, and the disturbance from overseas nickel mining continued. The cost of stainless steel strongly supported, while the domestic refined nickel production line continued to be put into operation, and there was still an expectation of surplus in the nickel industry pattern.

In terms of demand: In terms of the new energy industry chain, the production of ternary precursors and ternary materials is expected to decrease month on month in May, and the demand for nickel sulfate may weaken.

Market outlook

In summary, although mining disturbances continued, market sentiment had cooled down under high supply, high inventory, and high import pressures. Market concerned about inflation and the hawkish atmosphere of the Federal Reserve were still putting pressure on nickel prices. It is expected that nickel prices will mainly operate under pressure in the short term.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact SunSirs with support@SunSirs.com.