The impact of nickel on the cost of stainless steel smelting
In the smelting of stainless steel, there are currently three main sources of nickel-metal: nickel pig iron, pure nickel, and scrap stainless steel. According to the price fluctuations of various production raw materials in different periods, steel mills adopt different ratios for production in order to obtain the maximum profit. This article will focus on the comparison of the production cost of various raw material ratios of stainless steel in the current period.
1. Cost comparison of high nickel-iron and nickel-plated
Compared with pure nickel, the advantage of high nickel pig iron is mainly reflected in its ability to provide steelmaking pig iron. The current price of steel-making pig iron is 2,530 yuan/ton. Taking the high-nickel pig iron 12% grade as an example, the current price in Jiangsu is 1,380 yuan/nickel. For high-nickel iron, the value of the steel-making pig iron donated by each nickel point is 181 yuan.
In other words, if the price of high-nickel pig iron is higher than that of nickel plate within 181 yuan/nickel, then high-nickel pig iron still has a cost advantage. As far as the current situation is concerned, the spot nickel price of the Yangtze River is 126,400 yuan/ton, and the price difference between the two is 116 yuan/nickel, which is less than 181 yuan. Therefore, for the raw materials for smelting stainless steel, high-nickel iron has a cost advantage over nickel plates.
2. Cost comparison between scrap stainless steel and high nickel pig iron
Compared with high-nickel pig iron, scrap stainless steel not only contains nickel metal, but also chromium metal. The main components of scrap stainless steel are as follows: the mass fraction of nickel metal is 8%, the mass fraction of chromium metal is 17%, the mass fraction of iron is 73%, and the other mass fractions are 2%.
For nickel metal in scrap steel, the June scrap bid price of Taiyuan Iron and Steel is 13,900 yuan/ton, which is converted into 8% of the nickel-iron value in the scrap at 11,120 yuan, and the price of a single nickel point of nickel-iron in the scrap is 1390 yuan/nickel. It is basically equivalent to the current price of 1380 yuan/nickel for 12% high-nickel pig iron in Jiangsu.
Due to the lack of stainless steel scrap resources in my country, the high energy consumption of all scrap steel smelting, and the poor quality of scrap steel bring more harmful elements into molten steel, etc., when the price advantage of scrap steel is not enough to attract, the production model of all scrap stainless steel is generally not adopted. According to statistics from 51bxg Industrial Research Center, in the smelting of stainless steel, when the raw material ratio of stainless steel scrap reaches 60%, it is close to the line, and the average use of stainless steel scrap for the whole society is about 18%.
3. Low nickel pig iron + pure nickel mode
For the low nickel pig iron and pure nickel models, assuming that the low nickel pig iron (1.6%) + pure nickel model is equipped with the same composition of high nickel pig iron (12%), then 0.8943 tons of low nickel-iron and 0.1057 tons of pure nickel are required. The current price of low-nickel iron in the Shandong market is 3,400 yuan/ton, and the price of spot nickel in the Yangtze River is 126,400 yuan/ton.
Therefore, if you compare it in this way, the price of 12% nickel pig iron is 16401.1 yuan, which is equivalent to 1366.8 yuan. /nickel. However, the current price of 12% high-nickel iron is 1380 yuan/nickel, and the comparative advantage is not obvious.
Four, medium nickel-iron + pure nickel mode
For the production model of medium nickel-iron plus pure nickel, assuming the “medium nickel-iron pig iron (5%) + pure nickel” model, equipped with the same composition of high nickel pig iron (12%), then 0.926 tons of medium nickel-iron and pure nickel are required. 0.074 tons of nickel.
The current tax-included price of ferronickel is 1340 yuan/nickel, and the price of spot nickel in the Yangtze River is 126,400 yuan/ton. Therefore, if you look at this ratio, the price of nickel pig iron that reaches 12% is 1,5557.8 yuan, which is equivalent to 1296.5. Yuan/Nickel. In contrast, the medium ferronickel + pure nickel production model has a greater advantage than the ferronickel production model, and a single nickel point is 84 yuan lower.
The discussion of the above-mentioned raw material ratio modes for stainless steel production not only has a certain guiding significance for steel mills to control production costs, but also can judge the subsequent rise and fall speed through the difference in the price difference of various raw materials in different periods, and the difference in rising and fall. the trend of.