成本与产能视角下的长周期展望：潜龙蓄锐，待势乘时

1. Report Industry Investment Rating - The trend rating for nickel is "oscillation" [1] 2. Core Views of the Report - The nickel industry has experienced different development stages driven by demand and supply. In the past, stainless - steel demand and later new - energy vehicle demand have respectively boosted nickel prices, while subsequent technological breakthroughs and capacity expansions have led to an oversupply situation. The industry cycle that started in 2017 may turn around in 2028, and new demand from solid - state batteries is expected to reverse the current oversupply pattern [1][2][3] 3. Summary According to the Table of Contents 3.1 Nickel Iron & Stainless Steel: A Close - knit Relationship 3.1.1 Before 2007: Stainless - steel demand drives nickel price up - From 1997 - 2007, global stainless - steel nickel consumption grew at a CAGR of about 3.3%, accounting for over 60% of nickel end - consumption. After China joined the WTO in 2001, its stainless - steel production increased rapidly, with a CAGR of 44.9% from 2000 - 2005 and 30% from 2005 - 2010. The shortage of supply led to a significant increase in nickel price and a pressing need for stainless - steel cost reduction. During this period, there were changes in the ore end and raw materials, with laterite nickel ore replacing sulfide nickel ore, and the smelting process evolving from one - step to two - step and three - step methods. Chinese enterprises also started using laterite nickel ore to smelt NPI, which became the main raw material for stainless - steel production, reducing costs [18][19][24] 3.1.2 2007 - 2015: Nickel capacity expands rapidly, and weakening stainless - steel demand causes nickel price to decline - High nickel prices attracted many domestic enterprises to produce NPI using laterite nickel ore. Since 2010, domestic nickel ore imports have increased significantly. By 2011, NPI accounted for over 50% of the primary nickel raw materials for stainless - steel production in China. However, stainless - steel demand weakened due to the global economic downturn, leading to a large accumulation of LME nickel inventory and a decline in nickel price [34][35] 3.1.3 RKEF and Oxygen - Enriched Side - Blowing Process Discussion and Cost Calculation - RKEF is the mainstream process for nickel - iron preparation, with advantages such as a short process flow, high production efficiency, and high nickel recovery rate, but it has limitations in terms of cobalt recovery and energy consumption. The oxygen - enriched side - blowing process (OESBF) is more advanced, with better raw - material applicability and lower energy consumption, and it can also recover cobalt. Cost calculations show that the cost of RKEF - produced nickel - iron is about 1333 dollars per physical ton, and the cost of OESBF - produced high - grade nickel matte is about 11,800 dollars per metal ton [38][40][50] 3.2 Intermediate Products: Technological Breakthroughs, Raw - Material Structure Shuffle 3.2.1 2018 - 2022: New - energy demand opens a second growth curve, and the smelting end breaks the binary supply - demand imbalance - With the rapid development of new - energy vehicles, the demand for ternary batteries increased, driving up the demand for nickel. The production of ternary precursors in China increased nearly four - fold from 2020 to 2022. However, the traditional "laterite nickel ore - stainless steel" and "sulfide nickel ore - nickel salt/pure nickel" binary supply - demand pattern could not meet the demand for nickel sulfate, leading to a supply - demand imbalance. Nickel beans/nickel powder were initially popular for producing nickel sulfate due to their short extraction cycle [56][57][62] 3.2.2 2023 - present: Supply - side expansion leads to an industry - wide oversupply - As the profit of producing nickel sulfate from pure nickel decreased, the HPAL process for laterite nickel ore and the production of nickel sulfate from high - grade nickel matte became mainstream. Currently, there is over 400,000 metal tons of MHP wet - process production capacity in Indonesia. The electric - deposition process has matured, leading to a rapid increase in pure - nickel production. The large - scale production of deliverable products has made it difficult to repeat the "short - squeeze" market, but the oversupply situation will continue until demand improves [70][80][84] 3.2.3 HPAL Process Discussion and Cost Calculation - HPAL has a high cobalt - recovery rate, which can significantly offset costs. The cost of HPAL - produced MHP is relatively low. After deducting the cobalt cost, the full cost of MHP is about 7732 dollars per metal ton. The investment cost of wet - process projects is expected to decrease with technological maturity, and the reduction of production cost depends on the increase in cobalt price [88][92][95] 3.3 Current Situation and Outlook of Smelting - End Capacity 3.3.1 Nickel Iron: FENI supply stabilizes after clearance, and NPI capacity reaches a phased peak - After the nickel - iron to high - grade nickel matte conversion process was established and the electric - deposition nickel capacity expanded, nickel iron became a raw material for electric - deposition nickel. However, the price change of nickel iron is difficult to be smoothly transmitted to the market. FENI has experienced production cuts due to high costs, and its supply is expected to remain stable [96][97]