The price of nickel rose on the London Metal Exchange (LME) over the week, supported as since the beginning of the month by the reopening of China; the annual increase in nickel is 44.47%.
The price of ferronickel, the steel alloy, remained in decline, suffering from a more abundant world supply despite the shutdown of the Greek producer Larco and the still insufficient production in New Caledonia.
Nickel first depends on China
While the end of many restrictions in the leading commodity importing country was tempered by concerns over a new wave of Covid-19, nickel was supported by announcements from the Chinese government.
“China will invest directly through fiscal measures (…) nickel trendline is bullish,” underline the brokers of Marex Metals to AFP.
Unlike copper and other metals which have suffered throughout 2022 from the decline in Chinese demand, nickel is doing well.
After surging in March on the back of speculation and as the war in Ukraine and sanctions once morest Russia disrupted global supply chains, the price of nickel hasn’t been much hurt by recession fears worldwide. Demand for electric batteries and insufficient supply supported metal prices.
Optimism for 2023
After years of chronic underinvestment, nickel prices should rise further in 2023, despite Indonesia’s stated ambitions; nickel is driven by the explosion in demand for the energy transition and the electric vehicle sector.
The week of trading in London (LME) was also cut short by bank holidays in the United Kingdom on Monday and Tuesday.
On the LME, around 4:20 p.m. GMT, a ton of nickel for delivery in three months was trading at 30,030 dollars per ton. With a weekly increase of 1.49%. Nickel was worth $21,972 for the first trading session on January 2, 2022.
