Report's Investment Rating for the Industry The provided content does not mention the report's investment rating for the industry. Core Viewpoints of the Report - In the short term, the improvement in downstream stainless - steel demand is limited, and nickel prices still face correction pressure. However, in the medium to long term, the US easing expectations and China's anti - involution policies will provide strong support for nickel prices, and the new - year RKAB approval also poses potential positive factors. The downside space for nickel prices is limited. It is recommended to build long positions on dips. The short - term price range for the SHFE nickel main contract is expected to be between 115,000 - 128,000 yuan/ton, and for the LME 3M nickel contract, it is between 14,500 - 16,500 US dollars/ton [12]. Summary by Directory 1. Weekly Assessment and Strategy Recommendation - **Resource end**: The rainy season in Sulawesi ended this week, leading to a short - term increase in nickel ore supply. Most RKAB approvals in Indonesia are nearly completed, with approved quotas of about 3.1 - 3.3 billion wet tons. The tight supply of nickel ore has eased, and short - term ore prices may decline slightly. On August 15, the arrival price of 1.6% grade Indonesian domestic laterite nickel ore was 52.3 US dollars/wet ton (unchanged from last week), and that of 1.2% grade was 24.5 US dollars/wet ton (down 0.3 US dollars/ton from last week) [12]. - **Ferronickel**: Supply decreased slightly due to low profit levels at iron plants. Stainless - steel supply remains low, with August production expected to be flat month - on - month. Downstream speculative restocking in the demand side provides some support for stainless - steel demand, and social inventories have declined for five consecutive weeks. It is expected that stainless - steel supply will increase slightly, driving up ferronickel demand. Overall, the surplus pressure of ferronickel has eased slightly, and prices are stable with an upward trend. A domestic iron plant's high - nickel ferronickel was traded at 950 yuan/nickel (ex - works tax - included) this week, and mainstream quotes rose to 940 - 950 yuan/nickel (cargo - in - hold tax - included) [12]. - **Intermediate products**: For MHP, the external procurement demand from downstream nickel sulfate has been released, while the trading volume from traders is limited, resulting in a shortage of supply and a significant increase in coefficient prices. For high - grade nickel matte, the purchasing enthusiasm of downstream enterprises is relatively weak, market transactions are sluggish, and coefficient prices remain stable [12]. - **Refined nickel**: Nickel prices rebounded slightly this week and then declined, closing at 120,600 yuan/ton on Friday, down 1.2% from last week. The release of US July CPI data strengthened market expectations of monetary easing, but the subsequent PPI data showed resilience, slightly cooling market expectations of interest - rate cuts. In the spot market, downstream orders in the alloy and electroplating industries are scarce, market transactions are dull, and spot prices mainly fluctuate with the futures market, with stable premiums and discounts [12]. 2. Futures and Spot Markets - **Refined nickel prices**: The spot price of Jinchuan nickel was 122,550 yuan/ton (down 410 yuan/ton, - 0.33% from last week), and that of Russian nickel was 120,750 yuan/ton (down 370 yuan/ton, - 0.31% from last week). The LME closing price was 15,195 US dollars (up 80 US dollars, + 0.53% from last week), and the SHFE closing price was 120,600 yuan (down 580 yuan, - 0.48% from last week) [16]. - **Inventory**: LME inventory was 211,700 tons (down 600 tons, - 0.27% from last week), SHFE inventory was 27,000 tons (up 800 tons, + 2.93% from last week), bonded - area inventory was 5,400 tons (unchanged from last week), nickel plate spot inventory was 37,500 tons (up 2,000 tons, + 5.53% from last week), and nickel bean spot inventory was 2,900 tons (unchanged from last week) [16]. - **Premium and discount**: As of August 15, the average premium of Russian nickel spot to the near - month contract was 400 yuan/ton (up 50 yuan/ton from last week), and the average premium of Jinchuan nickel spot was 2,100 - 2,300 yuan/ton (down 50 yuan/ton from last week). The LME Cash/3M nickel discount was 207.88 US dollars/ton, slightly lower than the same period last week [22]. - **Secondary nickel prices**: The ex - works price of domestic high - nickel pig iron on Friday was 916 - 935 yuan/nickel point (average up 7 yuan/nickel point from last week), and the domestic spot price of nickel sulfate was 27,300 - 27,790 yuan/ton (average up 105 yuan/ton from last week) [26]. 3. Cost Side - **Nickel ore**: Domestic port inventories continued to accumulate. As of August 15, nickel ore port inventories reached 1,095.16 million tons, up 6.0% from the same period last week. Nickel ore prices remained stable. On August 15, the arrival price of 1.6% grade Indonesian domestic laterite nickel ore was 52.3 US dollars/wet ton (unchanged from last week), that of 1.2% grade was 24.5 US dollars/wet ton (down 0.3 US dollars/ton from last week), and the CIF price of 1.5% grade Philippine nickel ore was 57 US dollars/ton (unchanged from last week) [34][37]. - **Intermediate products**: In June, Indonesia's MHP production was 39,000 nickel tons (basically flat month - on - month), and high - grade nickel matte production was 25,000 nickel tons (significantly up month - on - month). As of August 15, the FOB price of Indonesian MHP was 12,684 US dollars/metal ton, with an MHP coefficient to LME nickel of 0.86 (unchanged from last week); the price of high - grade nickel matte was 13,054 US dollars/metal ton, with a coefficient to LME nickel of 0.88 (unchanged from last week) [44][49]. 4. Refined Nickel - **Supply**: In July 2025, China's refined nickel production reached 36,200 tons, maintaining a historically high level [54]. - **Demand**: The report analyzes stainless - steel production, inventory, and terminal demand in the manufacturing and real - estate sectors, but specific demand trends are not clearly summarized [56][58]. - **Inventory**: Global refined nickel inventories increased slightly this week. According to Mysteel data, on August 15, the combined visible inventory in China and LME reached 252,000 tons, up 1,027 tons from the same period last month [63]. 5. Nickel Sulfate - **Supply**: The report shows production and net import volume data of nickel sulfate in China, but specific supply trends are not clearly summarized [69]. - **Demand**: The report analyzes the loading volume of ternary power batteries and the production of ternary precursors in China, but specific demand trends are not clearly summarized [72]. - **Cost and price**: The report presents the production cost, price, and profit - margin data of battery - grade nickel sulfate, but specific trends are not clearly summarized [74]. 6. Supply - Demand Balance The report provides quarterly supply - demand balance data from 2023 to 2025, showing that the overall supply of nickel exceeds demand, but the surplus is gradually narrowing. In 2025, the total supply is expected to be 3.7688 million nickel tons, and the total demand is 3.6024 million nickel tons, with a surplus of 166,400 nickel tons [79].

Group 1: Report Industry Investment Rating - Not provided in the content Group 2: Core Viewpoints of the Report - In the short term, stainless steel prices have stabilized, and some traders have started speculative stocking. However, with high stainless - steel inventories, the impact of speculative demand is expected to be limited, and the oversupply situation is difficult to reverse. In the context of weak demand, although the ore price has fallen, downstream smelters lack the motivation to expand production. It is expected that the ore price will continue to decline, driving the price center of the industrial chain to move down further. It is recommended to sell high in the operation. The short - term price range of the main contract of Shanghai Nickel is expected to be 115,000 - 128,000 yuan/ton, and that of the LME 3M contract is 14,500 - 16,500 US dollars/ton [11] Group 3: Summaries According to the Directory 1. Weekly Assessment and Strategy Recommendation - **Resource end**: The nickel ore price has generally declined. The supply of wet - process ore is stable with a stable price, while the price of pyrometallurgical ore is under pressure. It is expected that the nickel ore price will continue to decline due to weak demand [11] - **Ferronickel**: The market sentiment has slightly improved, and the supplier's quotation has increased. The market price of scattered orders has risen to 920 yuan/nickel (including tax at the hatch bottom). The ferronickel price is running steadily and strongly, but there is still an oversupply pressure [11] - **Intermediate products**: The supply of intermediate products is expected to loosen. The supply of high - grade nickel matte in July is expected to increase significantly compared with the previous month, and the output of MHP is expected to remain at a high level [11] - **Refined nickel**: The nickel price is running strongly driven by the rise of ferronickel price. The spot trading has turned cold, and the global nickel visible inventory has decreased by 1.43% to 243,000 tons, with inventory accumulation in China and inventory reduction in LME [11] 2. Spot and Futures Market - **Spot market**: The prices of Jinchuan nickel and Russian nickel have decreased, with a decline of 0.52% and 0.58% respectively. The LME closing price has increased slightly by 0.07%, and the SHFE closing price has decreased by 0.73%. The import loss has decreased [15] - **Futures market**: The LME nickel open interest has decreased by 3.73%, and the SHFE open interest has increased by 7.71%. The LME inventory has increased by 0.68%, and the SHFE inventory has increased by 0.92% [15] - **Inventory**: The bonded - area inventory has increased by 3.71%, the nickel plate spot inventory has increased by 4.97%, and the nickel bean spot inventory has increased by 0.34% [15] - **Nickel spot premium**: The domestic refined nickel spot premium is relatively strong. The Russian nickel spot premium is 350 yuan/ton, unchanged from last week. The LME nickel Cash/3M discount is 204.70 US dollars/ton, slightly lower than last week [22] - **Secondary nickel price**: The ferronickel price is running steadily and strongly, and the market price of scattered orders has risen to 920 yuan/nickel (including tax at the hatch bottom) [25] 3. Cost End - **Nickel ore**: The domestic port inventory has increased significantly, reaching 9.8787 million tons as of July 25, an increase of 4.2% compared with the same period last week. The nickel ore price is under pressure, and the prices of some grades of nickel ore in Indonesia and the Philippines are unchanged from last week [32][35] - **Ferronickel**: Not further elaborated in this part - **Intermediate products**: In June, the output of MHP in Indonesia was 39,000 nickel tons, basically unchanged from the previous month, and the output of high - grade nickel matte was 25,000 nickel tons, a significant increase from the previous month. As of July 25, the FOB prices of Indonesian MHP and high - grade nickel matte and their coefficients to LME nickel are unchanged from last week [42][47] 4. Refined Nickel - **Supply**: In June 2025, the national refined nickel output reached 34,500 tons, maintaining a historically high level [52] - **Demand**: Not further elaborated in this part - **Import and export**: Not further elaborated in this part - **Inventory**: The global refined nickel inventory has decreased slightly. The global nickel visible inventory has decreased by 1.43% to 243,000 tons, with inventory accumulation in China and inventory reduction in LME. The LME nickel inventory has decreased by 3,654 tons to 204,000 tons, a decline of 1.76% [61] - **Cost**: Not further elaborated in this part 5. Nickel Sulfate - **Supply**: Not further elaborated in this part - **Demand**: Not further elaborated in this part - **Cost and price**: Not further elaborated in this part 6. Supply - Demand Balance - From 2023 to 2025, the total supply of nickel is generally greater than the total demand, and the supply - demand gap shows an increasing trend year by year. In 2025, the supply - demand gap is expected to reach 166,400 tons [77]