Spot nickel moved up 17 per cent in the last month in the domestic non-ferrous metals market to Rs 1,150 a kg against Rs 990 a kg in the beginning of the month owing to huge shortfall projected by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) given the rising demand from the stainless steel industry. | |
| Domestic price of nickel moves, generally, in tandem with the London Metal Exchange where the price of this silvery white metal jumped more than 17 per cent to close at $23,030 a tonne against $19,395 a tonne in the beginning of the month. |
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| Nickel is largely consumed by the stainless steel industry where demand for industrial and household applications are mounting daily. |
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| Industrial development is driving demand not only for aesthetic uses but also for long life of the output made out of stainless steel. |
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| The demand for cost-effective and short duration utensils are picking up fast, thus boosting nickel demand. India is a net importer of nickel. Depleting stocks on the LME-registered warehouses, from 18,276 tonne on May 30 compared with 26,925 tonne in the beginning of the month, has been a major cause of worry for stainless steel producers. |
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| The world nickel market recorded a deficit of 6,000 tonne in the first quarter of 2006, with reported stocks some 3,000 tonnes lower. |
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| Mine production rose 4.5 per cent to 327,000 tonne, with a return to "more normal" Canadian output levels accounting for most of the change. |
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| Refined production rose 1.5 per cent to 332,000 tonnes, with small increases in Russian output and the re-emergence of Philippines as a producer accounting for most of the increase. In March, world production was 109,600 tonne and demand totalled 109,000 tonne. |
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| Heating nickel prices was partly attributed to Canadian nickel producer Inco Ltd's announcement to operate its plant at a reduced rate in Indonesia for the next two months owing to a fire at the plant. |
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| The disruption is expected to add further momentum to the price of nickel which hit an all-time high recently, in anticipation of a strike at Inco's key Canadian operation. |
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| Inco's Indonesia subsidiary said a furnace fire at its Sorowako operation may reduce nickel in matte output by 1 million pounds, or around 454 tonne, a week for the next seven or eight weeks. |
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| Prior to the fire, the PT Inco subsidiary was targeting 167 million pounds this year, the operation to run at around two-thirds capacity till July. |
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