Shanghai Nonferrous Metals News
China produced 37.2 kt of NPI (in Ni metal) in April 2022, down by 4.17% m-o-m but up by 9.86% y-o-y. Of the total, 30.7 kt was high NPI and 6.7 kt was low NPI, down by 3.7% and 6.5% m-o-m respectively. Despite elevated NPI prices and positive profit margins during April, COVID control policies in major NPI producing regions such as IM, Liaoning and Jiangsu restricted smelter operations, resulting in a slight m-o-m production cut compared with March.
SMM analysts forecast domestic NPI production to rise to 38.7 kt, including 32 kt (in Ni metal) of high NPI in May, driven by rising laterite imports and improving COVID control conditions.
