Nickel Daily: China's refined nickel spot prices have insufficient momentum to follow nickel price rally

Source: Mysteel May 21, 2026 09:07

In the Indonesian domestic nickel ore market, pricing methods remained diverged, with fixed prices and "HPM plus premium" operating in parallel. Overall costs remained high but lacked further upward momentum. China's refined nickel spot market remained in a high-level stalemate. Although average prices edged slightly higher, actual transaction follow-through was notably insufficient. Spot premiums/discounts for various refined nickel brands were mostly stable with minor adjustments. Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had implemented temporary operating freezes on mining companies that had not submitted their 2026 RKAB applications. Coupled with the exhausted quota at the Weda Bay mine, which had already been placed under care and maintenance, and the temporary production halt of some production lines at Huafei Nickel Cobalt, expectations of tightening supply at the ore and intermediate product ends continued to build.

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