The Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) market looks firm on the surface — but dig one layer deeper and two very different realities emerge for high-grade and low-grade material.

[SMM Nickel Flash] Supply side, the center of upstream offers continued to decline, with some traders continuously lowering their intended prices. Demand side, the market remained relatively sluggish, and the price spread between high- and low-grade NPI continued to widen. Overall, consumption was relatively weak, and high-grade NPI prices maintained a slight downward trend.

[SMM Daily Comment: Weak End-User Demand Weighed on Prices, High-Grade NPI Continued to Drop Slightly] April 8 — The SMM high-grade NPI upstream sentiment index stood at 2.74, up 0.02 MoM, while the high-grade NPI downstream sentiment index stood at 1.49, flat MoM.

SMM Analysis: National NPI Metal Content Declined by Approximately 2.25% MoM in March, Expected to Rise by Approximately 0.34% MoM in April. In March 2025, the national NPI production physical content increased by approximately 3.45% MoM, while the metal content decreased by approximately 2.25% MoM...

[SMM Analysis: National NPI Metal Content Down Approximately 8.24% MoM in February; March Metal Content Expected to Rise Approximately 0.97% MoM] In February 2025, the national NPI production (physical content) decreased approximately 11.38% MoM, while the metal content declined approximately 8.24% MoM...

[SMM Analysis: National NPI Metal Content Down Approximately 12.66% MoM in January, Expected to Rise Approximately 3.16% MoM in February] In January 2025, the national NPI production (physical content) decreased by approximately 10.65% MoM, and the metal content decreased by approximately 12.66% MoM...

[SMM Analysis: National NPI Metal Content Down Approximately 0.98% MoM in December; January Metal Content Expected to Drop by About 3.21%] In November 2024, national NPI production (physical content) increased by approximately 8.64% MoM, while metal content rose by about 3.11% MoM...

In July, China's copper cathode output was 1.0282 million mt, up 2.31% MoM (+23,200 mt) and 11.05% YoY, exceeding the expected 1.0166 million mt by 11,600 mt. The output from January to July totalled 6.9465 million mt, up 461,400 mt YoY (+7.11% YoY).

In July 2024, China's NPI production was 29,900 mt in nickel content (+6.43% MoM) and 737,000 mt in physical content (+10.69% MoM).

In June, China's copper cathode production was 1.005 million mt, down 3,600 mt MoM, a decrease of 0.36% MoM but up 9.49% YoY, and 20,000 mt higher than the expected 985,000 mt.