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Reuters reported that the nickel price hit its lowest level in 12 years on Tuesday on the back of concerns about high inventories.
Reuters reported that the nickel price hit its lowest level in 12 years on Tuesday on the back of concerns about high inventories. As of Tuesday, refined nickel inventories on the LME MNISTX-TOTAL were sitting at 437,334 tonnes, having risen 11 percent in the last month.
As quoted in the market news:
Weak demand from the stainless steel sector, the dominant source of demand for nickel, and a glut of supply has hammered prices.
Analyst Ash Lazenby at HSBC said the bank slashed nickel price forecasts by 22-34 percent for 2016-18, saying nickel ore stockpiles were high at 773,000 tonnes and will take about three years to halve.
“We cut our price forecasts … reflecting a protracted recovery as a result of slow supply discipline and heightened inventory levels,” he said in a note.
LME three-month nickel, which was the worst performer on the LME last year with losses of over 40 percent, tumbled to $8,120 a tonne, the lowest since May 2003, before paring losses to close at $8,220, a decline of 0.6 percent.