Lower Nickel Prices to Benefit India’s Stainless Steel Sector

Business Standard reported that nickel prices will likely remain weak for the rest of the year on the back of record production and carryover stocks. On the bright side, lower prices will benefit Indian stainless steel manufacturers.

As quoted in the market news:

This is a good news for Indian stainless steel manufacturers who were considering shifting to other competing metal or less use of nickel when its price shot up to $51000 a tonne a couple of years ago.

India is a net importer of nickel to meet its demand from stainless steel industry. At an estimated 22 million tonnes of stainless steel production and 6% of nickel use it, total import of this metal may be estimated at around 1 million tonne. The repercussion of the nickel price fall should be on every household in India as stainless steel utensil has replaced the costlier brass and copper allied utensils as a cheaper substitute. Also, lower investment on infrastructure has dented overall stainless steel demand resulting into a negative impact on nickel prices.

Click here to read the full Business Standard report.