NICKEL prices rose to a record and copper climbed to a five-month high in London as falling stockpiles and rising demand in China, the biggest user of the metals, stoked speculation about a supply squeeze.
China’s demand for nickel might grow 29% this year, Macquarie Bank said yesterday.
The country’s copper use might increase as much as 10% this year, Charlie Sartain, CE for copper at Xstrata, the world’s fifth-largest miner, said yesterday. Stockpiles of both metals monitored by the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell yesterday.
“Demand appears solid and there needs to be a substantial flow of metal into warehouses for people to be convinced that the balance has turned,” said Michael Jansen, a London-based strategist at JPMorgan Securities.
Nickel for delivery in three months on the LME jumped $2950, or 6,5%, to $48550 a ton, the biggest one-day gain since March 15. Earlier, it traded at $48600, beating its previous record on March 16 by $100.
Copper on the LME rose for a seventh consecutive day, rising $260, or 3,7%, to $7230 a ton.
Copper surpassed $7000 a ton for the first time since December 5. It has risen 33% since trading at a 12-month low of $5340 a ton on February 2.
Chinese copper demand might grow 21% to between 4,5-million tons and 4,7-million tons by 2010, from 3,8-million tons last year, UBS analyst Robin Bhar said in a report on Friday, citing China Minmetals Corporation, the country’s biggest metals trader.
Chinese copper and copper-product imports rose 56% in the first two months of the year to 468849 tons, customs office data showed last month, as producers tried to keep up with demand and stockpiled material a
+fter de-stocking last year.
Nickel has almost tripled in the past year on rising Chinese production of stainless steel. Bloomberg
NIA Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
