Stainless Steel News and Nickel Prices, Molybdenum, Metal Pricing, Ferrochrome
Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing
- Nickel closed Monday’s trading session at
$10.36/lb
($22,835/tonne). Indicators at 6:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.20/lb lower. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell on Monday and ended that session just under the 92,700 tonne level. Yesterday was brutal for nickel with cash nickel down 6.8% in one session. No other commodity, mineral, plant, or animal, fell anywhere near that hard yesterday. Overnight, Shanghai nickel trading was halted after it fell 8%. This morning, nickel continues to trade lower, and the reasoning for the sudden shift is given as profit taking before the Fed meets on Wednesday. The threat of war in Ukraine is also making traders nervous, although wars tend to be positive for base metals investment. After receiving an important endorsement, and contract, from Tesla’s Elon Musk, Minnesota miner PolyMet saw its wastewater permit rejected by a State Court of Appeals on Monday. For now, the mine remains on paper only. If you missed it yesterday, Goldman Sachs believes we started a ten year super cycle for nickel in 2021. And its Tuesday. Stay safe out there and have a great day! - Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $10.04/lb
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Reports
Monday’s market review – Profit-taking ahead of Fed meeting hits industrial metals – Prices of industrial metals fell on Monday due to profit-taking, nervousness ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week and a firm dollar, but low stocks provided some support. – more
SunSirs: Stainless Steel Was Up Slightly This Week (January 17-21) – According to the price monitoring of SunSirs, stainless steel rose slightly this week. As of January 21, the daily average price of spot 304/2B stainless steel plate 1.0*1219*2438 (tolerance 0.91) was 1698.33 RMB/ton, an increase of 2.54% compared with the price of 16,498.33 RMB/ton at the beginning of the week, and it was up 20.38% year-on-year. – more
Nickel’s price drop suggests caution ahead – Profit-taking saw nickel slipping in London as the market turns more cautious. Precursors’ margins have turned negative in China. – pdf report here
The Nickel Supply Squeeze Could Send Prices Even Higher – The nickel market is experiencing its most significant supply squeeze since 2007. – more
Walsin Lihwa raises stainless steel wire rod prices for Feb – Walsin Lihwa, a leading stainless steel wire rod manufacturer in Taiwan, announced to adjust the prices of its stainless steel wire rod products for February after considering demand, supply, raw material trends, as well as the competitive conditions of downstream purchasers. – more
Courtesy AISI – In the week ending on January 22, 2022, domestic raw steel production was 1,803,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 81.9 percent. Production was 1,736,000 net tons in the week ending January 22, 2021 while the capability utilization then was 76.6 percent. – more
Russia’s Norilsk Nickel greener in 2021 – At the end of 2021, the Russian mining giant succeeded in stopping some harmful emissions completely, and sulfur dioxide emissions on the Kola Peninsula were reduced by 85% in 2021 compared to the base year of 2015, helping the company to become more environmentally friendly, Nornickel’s press office said. – more
Britishvolt signs agreement to develop high-nickel EV batteries – Electric vehicle (EV) battery startup Britishvolt said on Monday it has signed an agreement with a UK government-backed research facility to develop batteries with high nickel content and more energy-dense materials as it gears up for mass production. – more
Seller challenges Sibanye’s move to scrap R15bn deal to buy mines after wall collapse – Sibanye-Stillwater’s move to cancel its $1 billion (R15.3 billion) acquisition of nickel and copper mines in Brazil was challenged by the seller, which said there was no legal basis to terminate the deal. – more
No Nickel In Nikel? A Russian Mining Town Faces Steep Decline – For decades, nickel mining and smelting in the northern Russian town of Nikel provided a living for its residents and vast wealth for the company’s owners. – more
Minnesota Court of Appeals turns back another permit for state’s first planned copper mine – The state Court of Appeals on Monday turned back PolyMet’s wastewater permit, saying state regulators erred in not considering whether seepage from the proposed mine’s tailings dam into the groundwater should be governed by the federal Clean Water Act. – more
Other News
- Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
Economic Stats and Prices
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