镍：基本面矛盾变化不大，印尼政策增加担忧；不锈钢：基本面供需双弱，印尼镍矿消息扰动

1. Report's Industry Investment Rating - Not provided in the given content 2. Core Viewpoints of the Report - Short - term nickel price support is enhanced, but the upward space depends on the implementation of Indonesian policies. The previous trading logic of the nickel futures was the pressure of oversupply and the expected commissioning of hydrometallurgical projects. The Indonesian news has weakened the confidence of short - sellers, and short - covering has led to a recovery in nickel prices. The fundamentals of refined nickel have shifted from strong supply and weak demand to weak supply and demand, with a slowdown in the inventory accumulation rate. However, the expected increase in the supply of low - cost hydrometallurgical paths in the long - term still exists, which restricts the upward elasticity of nickel prices [3]. - The fundamental contradiction of stainless steel is not prominent, and attention should be paid to the disturbance of Indonesian policy news. Indonesian quota and resource tax policies increase the uncertainty of ferronickel costs. If the quota policy is implemented, it is expected to turn the contradiction of nickel element oversupply into a shortage. The implementation of the resource tax still depends on the pricing model of associated resources in Indonesia, and it will moderately increase the cost. The fundamentals of stainless steel show a slight oversupply, with a good bottom safety margin, but the upward driving force depends on the implementation of Indonesian policies [3][4]. 3. Summary by Relevant Catalogs 3.1 News Analysis - The Indonesian government has urged enterprises to resubmit the 2026 RKAB budget, and the market rumor is that Indonesia hopes to cut the nickel ore quota to 2.5 billion tons. According to calculations, the nickel ore demand in Indonesia from 2024 - 2026 is expected to be 250 million, 280 million, and 300 million tons respectively. A 2.5 - billion - ton quota may lead to a shortage of nickel ore, force smelters to cut production, and turn the expected surplus of primary nickel into a shortage, which will also have a great impact on the existing high inventory. However, the actual implementation remains to be seen [1]. - The Indonesian government may include associated minerals such as cobalt in nickel ore into the tax system. The adjustment of the resource tax on high - grade nickel ore in the first half of the year theoretically increased the smelting cost by about 700 yuan/metal ton. The impact of including cobalt in the tax system on cost depends on the base - price formula for cobalt determined by Indonesia. The cost increase should not be over - estimated. However, it may have a negative impact on pyrometallurgical enterprises and bring uncertainty to the pricing model of low - grade hydrometallurgical ore [2]. 3.2 Market Quotes - Nickel: The short - term support for nickel prices has increased, but the upward space depends on the implementation of Indonesian policies. The fundamentals of refined nickel have shifted from strong supply and weak demand to weak supply and demand, with a slowdown in the inventory accumulation rate. The expected increase in the supply of low - cost hydrometallurgical paths in the long - term restricts the upward elasticity of nickel prices [3]. - Stainless steel: The fundamental contradiction is not prominent. Indonesian policies increase the uncertainty of ferronickel costs. The current supply and demand pattern shows a slight oversupply, with a good bottom safety margin, and the upward driving force depends on the implementation of Indonesian policies [3][4]. 3.3 Inventory Tracking - Refined nickel: China's social inventory increased by 281 tons to 56,988 tons. Among them, warehouse - receipt inventory increased by 2,352 tons to 37,602 tons, spot inventory decreased by 2,071 tons to 15,416 tons, and bonded - area inventory remained unchanged at 3,970 tons. LME nickel inventory increased by 1,518 tons to 254,550 tons [5]. - New energy: On December 19, the inventory days of upstream, downstream, and integrated production lines of SMM nickel sulfate changed by +1, - 1, and 0 month - on - month to 5, 8, and 7 days respectively; the precursor inventory on December 19 changed by +0.8 month - on - month to 13.1 days; the ternary material inventory on December 18 remained unchanged at 6.9 days [5]. - Ferronickel - stainless steel: On November 30, the SMM ferronickel inventory was 29,346 tons, a month - on - month decrease of 3%. The SMM stainless steel factory inventory in November was 1.588 million tons, a year - on - month/ month - on - month increase of 6%/1%. On December 18, the total social inventory of stainless steel was 1,042,148 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 2.01%. Among them, the cold - rolled stainless steel inventory was 610,282 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 1.5%, and the hot - rolled stainless steel inventory was 431,866 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 2.73% [5]. 3.4 Market News - On September 12, due to violations of forestry license regulations, the Indonesian Forestry Working Group took over a nickel mining area of over 148 hectares of PT Weda Bay Nickel. The area accounts for 0.3% of the total mining area, and the expected impact on nickel ore production is about 600 metal tons per month [6]. - China has suspended an unofficial subsidy for copper and nickel imports from Russia [7]. - On September 22, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources imposed sanctions on 190 mining companies. The sanctions will be lifted once the companies submit a claim plan and provide a claim guarantee until 2025 [7]. - On September 30, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources issued Ministerial Decree No. 17 (2025) regarding the procedures for the preparation, submission, and approval of the work plan and budget for mineral and coal mining business activities and the procedures for activity implementation reports [7]. - On October 10, US President Trump announced on social media that he might impose an additional 100% tariff on China from November 1 and implement export controls on "all key software" [8]. - The Indonesian government has suspended the issuance of new smelting licenses through the OSS platform, targeting projects producing nickel matte, MHP, FeNi, and NPI [8]. - According to SMM news, the safety production inspection in Indonesian industrial parks has affected the short - term production of some nickel hydrometallurgical projects, with an expected impact on production of about 6,000 nickel metal tons in December [10]. - On November 21, the dovish remarks of New York Fed President John Williams and Fed Governor Stephen Miran prompted investors to raise the probability of a 25 - basis - point interest rate cut in December [10]. - On December 12, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs decided to implement an export license management system for some steel products starting from January 1, 2026 [10]. - The Indonesian Nickel Miners Association (APNI) revealed that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) will revise the benchmark price formula for nickel ore commodities in early 2026, and will start treating cobalt as an independent commodity and levy royalties [10]. - Market rumors suggest that the Indonesian government plans to significantly reduce the 2026 nickel ore production target from 379 million tons to 250 million tons [10].