According to China’s Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), the country produced 24.0 thousand tons of refined nickel in October 2023, up 8.9% from September and 55.7% higher than the same month in 2022.
For the ten months, China’s refined nickel output reached 197.3 thousand tons. This is 38.4% higher than in the same period last year.
As SMM notes, in October, all nickel plants launched this year reached their design capacity, so the production volume will stabilize in the coming months. But growth will continue in 2024 thanks to the completion of several more projects.
At the same time, the production of nickel-containing pig iron (NPI) slightly decreased. In October, it amounted to 33.7 thousand tons in terms of pure metal, which is by 0.4% less than in September and by 2.2% less than in October 2022.
stainless steel.
Overall, Chinese companies received 327,000 tons of nickel in the form of NPI in January-October. This is 3.4% less than in the same period last year.
Indonesia’s NPI production figures also declined. In October, output totaled 115.8 thousand tons in terms of nickel, 9.5% more than in the same month last year, but 4.0% less than in September. Due to lower prices, some companies shifted their focus to making more profitable nickel products.
However, Indonesia produced 1.1195 million tons of NPI nickel during the ten months. This exceeds the level of the same period last year by 18.7%.
The output of nickel sulfate in China in terms of pure metal amounted to 39 thousand tons in October, which is 4.5% less than in September, but 5.5% more than in October last year. On a ten-month basis, growth of 19.8% was recorded to 355.7 thousand tons.