The prices of nickel They climbed to their highest level in more than a decade on Monday as low inventories, healthy demand from electric vehicle battery makers and concerns about supplies from Russia fueled buying, while copper was flat.
Among other industrial metals, copper added 0.1% to $9,967 a tonne, aluminum gained 0.6% to $3,282 a tonne, zinc rose 0.5% to $3,592 a tonne, lead fell 0, 1% to $2,346 a ton; and tin was down 0.3% at $24,515.
As reported by Reuters, benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 1.5% to $24,515 a tonne at 1049 GMT, having previously hit $24,610 a tonne, the highest level since August 2011.
“There will be a risk premium for nickel given the potential for disruptions from Russia and inventories are low,” said Wenyu Yao, an analyst at ING. “Strong electric vehicle sales in China continue to drive shortages of nickel,” needed to make nickel sulfate.
The possibility that Western powers will issue heavy sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine has raised alarm over the country’s supplies, which accounted for about 10% of global mining output last year.
Nickel shortages have prompted withdrawals from stocks at LME-registered warehouses, which at 83,274 tonnes are down 68% from April last year.
Source: Larepublica
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