Nickel Inventory to Be `Tight' Through to 2010, Macquarie Says
By Madelene Pearson
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel inventories will probably be ``tight'' through to 2010 helping to support higher prices for the metal used to make stainless steel, Macquarie Bank Ltd. said.
Prices for the metal may average between $30,000 a metric ton and $32,000 a ton over the next three years, Jim Lennon, Macquarie's head of commodity research, said today at the Third New Caledonia Nickel conference in Noumea. ``The level of inventory cover remains very low,'' he said.
Nickel prices for cash delivery reached a record in London this month, jumping 32 percent in 2007, as mining companies failed to expand capacity to meet demand from stainless steelmakers in China. China's share of nickel demand will rise to 33 percent by 2011, from 18 percent last year, Lennon said.
``China's import demand for nickel will continue to grow strongly,'' he said. ``China will continue to dominate the industry.''
Lennon is forecasting a drop in stainless steel prices in the second-half this year, which should bring ``some relief'' to current nickel prices, he said.
China is the world's largest consumer of nickel and the largest stainless steel producer.
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