Fastmarkets sources continued to insist that prices were in parity, as rare as the phenomenon is.

At present, of the 17,244 tonnes of on-warrant nickel in LME warehouses in Rotterdam, briquette accounts for more than 92%.

A high backwardation continued to dampen import appetite, leading to thin liquidity, although offers were quoted higher.

Because of a scheduling disagreement with Vale Indonesia.

Nickel production in Russia was largely undisrupted in March despite the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to analytics platform Savant.

Uptake of Class 1 nickel will rise to more than 410,000t in 2022, from 330,000t last year, based on the group's internal forecasts for the metal.

LME nickel stockpiles have declined by 71pc to 75,318t on 14 March from a year earlier.

Prices briefly retreated after 24 February.