SMM

In December, nickel prices continued the rebound trend from late November, hovering around 135,000 yuan/mt. The recovery in nickel prices once again led to a price inversion between nickel briquettes and nickel sulphate. As of December 11th, the average premium of nickel briquettes over nickel sulphate reached 742 yuan/mt. Moreover, with nickel sulphate prices continuing to decline significantly, the price differential between the two reached 6,322.73 yuan/mt. However, according to SMM's research, the current price differential, which is close to 10,000 yuan/mt, is still not sufficient to trigger widespread procurement of nickel sulphate for electrodeposited nickel production. This is mainly due to nickel prices remaining in a low and volatile range, as well as the saturated supply in the refined nickel spot market. Apart from certain brands, niche electrodeposited nickel factories typically sell at substantial discounts against SHFE nickel for their nickel plates.