Oct 21 (Reuters) – Nickel prices in Shanghai jumped to a record high on Thursday on supply worry amid falling Chinese imports and unfavourable weather in the Philippines potentially hitting output even as it deals with an already tight inventory level.
The most-traded November nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SNIcv1 hit a record 161,600 yuan ($25,288.33) a tonne, while three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange CMNI3 advanced as much as 1.9% to $21,370 a tonne, its highest since May 2014.
China’s imports of nickel ore and nickel pig iron fell 1.6% and 12.3%, respectively, on a monthly basis in September, customs data showed.
Meanwhile, output in the Philippines, the biggest supplier of nickel ore to top consumer China, could decline this year due to unfavourable weather, the country’s head of nickel association said.
Refined nickel inventories in ShFE warehouses NI-STX-SGH have been hovering near a record low for weeks, while LME stocks of the metal MNISTX-TOTAL were at their lowest since December 2019 of 92,766 tonnes.
Brazilian miner Vale SA VALE3.SA said on Tuesday its nickel output in the third quarter fell 22% year-on-year, mainly due to labour disruptions at its Sudbury mine.
Russian miner Nornickel GMKN.MM said on Wednesday its nickel production in January-September fell 23% year-on-year, partly due to temporary suspension at two of its mines, despite a pickup in third-quarter output from the previous three months.
FUNDAMENTALS
* ShFE lead SPBcv1 rose 2.4% to 16,090 yuan a tonne at 0325 GMT, tin SSNcv1 advanced 3.2% to 294,200 yuan a tonne, copper SCFcv1 increased 1.4% to 74,660 yuan a tonne.
* LME copper CMCU3 was up 0.1% to $10,200 a tonne, aluminium CMAL3 advanced 1.4% to $3,113.50 a tonne and zinc CMZN3 rose 1.6% to $3,621 a tonne.
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TOP/MTL or MET/L MARKETS NEWS
* Asian stocks eked small gains but the upbeat mood that lifted the Dow Jones and bitcoin to records ebbed on fresh worries about China’s property sector after an asset sale at embattled developer Evergrande collapsed. MKTS/GLOB DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
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1400 EU Consumer Confid. Flash Oct
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($1 = 6.3903 yuan)
(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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