On the 12th, the price of nickel rose sharply, among which spot nickel was 146,983.33 yuan/ton, up 4.22% in a single day; the main contract of nickel futures 2109 rose 4.55% in a single day. Spot nickel rose 4.22% from the previous trading day, 14.71% from the beginning of the year, and 32.16% year-on-year.
Nickel prices have been falling weakly since August, until they rebounded from their lows in the past two days, basically recovering the decline since August. From the perspective of supply, in the early stage, due to Indonesia’s counterattack from the epidemic, the supply of ferronickel was restricted, coupled with insufficient capacity, the high ferronickel price directly penetrated the 2017 high, forcing the global nickel ore to continue to rise. Strong cost support. The current overseas epidemic is serious. The epidemics in the Philippines and Indonesia have affected export transportation, and the return of raw materials has decreased. The overall supply is still tight. In the downstream, the sales of new energy vehicles in June was 256,000, a year-on-year increase of 1.4 times. From January to June, the production and sales of new energy vehicles both increased by 2 times year-on-year. The demand for new energy was at a relatively high level; downstream domestic stainless steel production and sales continued The rise has driven the demand for nickel. Low nickel inventories also support nickel prices.
Forecast: The U.S. Senate recently passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which will boost metal demand. The overall supply and demand are in a tight pattern, which has strong support for nickel prices. However, there is still some pressure to break through the previous high of 150,000. It is expected that the short-term high-level fluctuation pattern of nickel prices will be the mainstay.
