SMM December 17 News,
On December 17, the SMM average price for 10-12% high-grade NPI was 885 yuan/mtu (ex-factory, tax included), down 1.5 yuan/mtu MoM from the previous working day. The market sentiment factor for high-grade NPI was 1.58, down 0.04 MoM. Supply side, domestic upstream smelters' offers remain high, but transactions are scarce, with some Indonesian smelters already seeing small volumes of low-priced sales. Demand side, futures prices show no significant recovery, end-use consumption remains sluggish, market confidence in the outlook is lacking, and downstream buying interest continues to be weak. Overall, a small number of low-priced transactions have emerged in the market, and high-grade NPI prices continue to decline.
