25 March 2022 – London Metal Exchange (LME) to ban orders outside daily price limits. The LME has again published new rules for trading in base metals, including nickel. Nickel prices on the SHFE continue to rise. LME nickel up 8.5% at start of trading. And steelmakers in Tangshan, China, are running out of raw materials – prices for iron ore, coke and coking coal are rising.
Nickel prices remain turbulent
The SHFE nickel has today (25 March 2022) after a very short overnight slump, risen again significantly. The contract ni2206 is the front-runner today, rising by approx. 14%. But almost all other nickel contracts on the SHFE are up more than 10% today.
The LMEselect Nickel 3 Month apparently started Friday’s trading at around $ 40,400 per tonne. This represents a gain of about 8.5% compared to Thursday. A similar event to the SHFE (mentioned above), appears to be playing out on the LME. A few minutes after the start of trading, the nickel price fell back to the previous day’s price, briefly trending into negative territory, only to return to positive territory a short time later.
The nickel war between the long and short parties does not seem to be over yet.
LME continues to struggle to clean up own nickel mess
Already the last attempts of the LME to get a grip on the chaos in its own nickel market do not seem to have really ignited. Cancelled trades, corrected prices and the new price limits have failed to bring trading into order.
New rules: LME bans submission of orders outside daily price limits
As recently as Thursday (24 March 2022), after yet another Price Disruption Event interrupted nickel trading, the LME pulled a new tool out of its hat and banned the submission of orders outside of daily price limits. This ban applies to all traded metals, including nickel, for the submission of sell orders above the upper price limit and buy orders below the lower price limit. It remains to be seen whether this will be the liberating blow for the stumbling LME.
China: Tangshan steelmakers running out of raw materials
As reported, China’s Tangshan steel region has been placed in Corona Lockdown. And the impact has already reached steelmakers there. According to reports, iron ore, coke and coal stocks there have already fallen to very low levels, leaving manufacturers with only a few days’ worth of material and having to scale back production or carry out maintenance.
DCE iron ore, coking coal and coal prices up
The supply shortage has caused iron ore prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) to rise by 3 to 4% on average. Prices for energy sources such as coking coal and coal are also up by up to 3.7%.
Latest news
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- China – Tangshan steel region in Corona lockdown
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