Drop in Norilsk Nickel FY output supports high long-term contract premium offer to Chinese buyers

摘要

An 8% year-on-year drop in Norilsk Nickel's 2017 full-year nickel output pushed up the nickel full-plate premium cif China in the third quarter of 2017 and encouraged Norilsk to offer a historically high long-contract nickel premium of $300-320 per tonne to Chinese trading firms for 2018.Norilsk's total nickel output in 2017 came to 217,000 tonnes, down from year-ago levels of 236,000 tonnes, mainly as a result of lower low-margin processing of third-party feed at its Harjavalta facility, while output from its own Russian feed rose 7%, the company said on Wednesday January 31.