According to latest data of China General Administration of Customs, China's imports of refined nickel dropped 29.22% from July at 6,863.1 tonnes in August, down 40.23% year on year (YoY). The imports totaled 64,147.3 t over January-August, falling 39.53% from last year.
The exports, on the other hand, jumped 136.54% month on month (MoM) at 1,372.6 t in August, and totaled 16,220.1 t year-to-date, an increase of 3.27% from last year.
Source: China General Administration of Customs
In detail, the fall in refined nickel imports was primarily contributed by nickel plate, which (mainly those from Russia, Norway, Japan, South Africa, and Finland) lost 37.14% MoM at 4,917.1 t in August.
On the contrary, the imports of NORNICKEL nickel added 7.93% MoM at 3,404.1 t in August, over half of which were with long-term orders. The popularity of NORNICKEL nickel was due to its deliverability at SHFE as well as old habits of downstream users.
Meanwhile, nickel plates from Norway and Japan were relatively competitive thanks to its unique application in the electroplating sector.
With cheap domestic nickel plate grabbing market share via its cost advantage, the imports of other nickel plate have been falling constantly, especially when domestic nickel brands have been endeavoring to register with futures exchanges.
Quickly growing domestic nickel plate production has boosted the export market, as oversupply in domestic market has prompted the smelters to seek opportunities overseas.
But it is still too early to say that China will become a refined nickel exporter as the direct export profits are in deep negative, unless exporting with "processing of supplied materials", which, however, is small in volume.
Mysteel estimates that China's refined nickel exports will remain low at 5,000-7,000 tonnes in September.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com