Stainless Steel News and Nickel Prices, Molybdenum, Metal Pricing, Ferrochrome
Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing
- Nickel closed Monday’s trading session at
$12.36/lb
($27,250/tonne). Indicators at 6:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.73/lb 
higher. That is not a misprint. Nickel is up over $1700/tonne already this morning, and at the moment, appears to be hitting some resistance. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME approved warehouses fell slightly on Monday and started today’s session just over the 54,300 tonne level. Shanghai nickel is at 215,280 y/t, up 1,550 from yesterday. If you read no other news story today, please check out the article below titled “Commodity forecasts are absurd, but China is key as Ukraine fades: Russell”. Russell, who is one of the better commodity forecasters, expresses his frustration with the futility of commodity forecasting. And we post another from Fitch. Stay safe out there and have a great day! - Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $12.96/lb
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Reports
Monday’s market review – Copper rises as China pledges economic support – Copper prices rose on Monday, supported by a weaker dollar and hopes for stronger demand in China on the back of promised economic stimulus from the government. – more
Commodity forecasts are absurd, but China is key as Ukraine fades: Russell – The folly and futility of forecasting commodity prices was rammed home this year, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upending markets and rendering all prior expectations largely irrelevant. – more
SMM Analysis: Stainless Steel Prices’ Upward Trend Comes to An Abrupt End – Entering December, the most-traded stainless steel futures contract was basically in a steady upward trend, but this came to an abrupt end last Friday and took a sharp turn for the worse. – more
Global AL6XN Prices Persist to Soar at the Ending Q4 of 2022 – AL6XN prices continue to rise in the global market in mid-December 2022, owing to the rising downstream demand and raw material costs. – more
Hedge Funds Say They Lost $95 Million in LME Nickel Crisis – A group of hedge funds led by AQR Capital Management LLC said that they lost a combined $95 million during a turbulent few days when the London Metal Exchange controversially canceled billions of dollars in nickel trades and suspended the market. – more
China’s Zero-Covid Policy Uncertainty Will Drive Commodities Markets – China’s easing of its zero-Covid policy will remain the key uncertainty for commodities markets in 2023, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. – more
Russia’s stainless steel imports down 1.9 percent in Nov from Oct – In October this year, Russia’s stainless steel imports totaled 20,003 mt, down by 1.9 percent compared to October, according to Russia-based SpetsStal Association. – more
Courtesy AISI – In the week ending on December 17, 2022, domestic raw steel production was 1,627,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 72.9 percent. Production was 1,768,000 net tons in the week ending December 17, 2021 while the capability utilization then was 80.1 percent. – more
Other News
- Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
Economic Stats and Prices (posted in Friday edition)
Why Stainless Steel
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Слава Україні! – more