SHANGHAI, Oct 31 (SMM) - In October, the overall supply of pure nickel in China remained tight owing to the renewed pandemic outbreaks in the country and the traders’ low profit margins caused by the high nickel prices. Last week, the liquidity of domestic pure nickel improved amid the falling SHFE nickel prices and the spot premiums. Import profits of pure nickel were maintained at around 5,000 yuan/mt, but the surging overseas prices sent the import profit into a nosedive again. Although some traders have locked in the price ratio, the customs clearance volume in the week was still low because the downstream companies were in the off-season. The capacity bottleneck of nickel sulphate produced with MHP still existed, while nickel sulphate output increased in September and October, thus the producers intended to purchase nickel briquettes on rigid demand. However, due to the high SHFE nickel prices, nickel briquette prices were nearly 5,000-6,000 yuan/mt higher than the nickel sulphate, so the market witnessed almost no nickel briquette trading. Pure nickel demand was poor. The high spot stainless steel prices could not be transmitted to the downstream sectors smoothly, arousing a strong wait-and-see sentiment among downstream companies. Besides, the stainless steel industry will enter the off-season approaching the end of the year. The peak season of the alloy sector (usually in August and September) has passed as the terminal enterprises generally restock in advance for their peak season in September and October. In general, the downstream sectors of pure nickel are sluggish, while pure nickel supply is sufficient, thus the prices will trend lower this week.