Lower Nickel Pig Iron Output May Raise Nickel Price

Bloomberg reported that London nickel prices may rise in the coming months on the back of slower stockpile buildups caused by lower nickel pig iron output.

As quoted in the market news:

Nickel pig iron output cuts are likely at current prices and could balance the market, the bank’s analysts including Max Layton and Roger Yuan wrote in a report dated yesterday. The Philippine monsoon season will cut supply, boosting ore prices and the production cost of nickel pig iron, or NPI, through February, according to the analysts.

‘A slowdown in LME nickel stock builds is likely to be necessary to see nickel rally significantly from current prices,’ the bank said in the report. ‘We expect this will occur as NPI production cuts feed through, and as we believe China’s destocking is nearing an end.’

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.