Price is up 80% this year, with predictions it could hit US$11 a pound by the end of 2019
The price of nickel on international markets continued its dizzying climb Wednesday, breaking past US$8 a pound before settling in at US$8.17 late in the day.
It’s a surge Terry Ortslan, a nickel analyst at TSO and Associates in Montreal, saw coming in late 2018, when the metal was struggling to hit $5. A few factors were depressing prices at the time, Ortslan said, while predicting a rebound into 2019.
“We all know batteries for electric vehicles are going to be very important new demand source of nickel, as much as stainless steel was 50 or 60 years ago,” he said at the time. “So it’s going to be slow times for the next couple of months, but it’s a short-term issue.
“But for the battery-grade nickel that both Vale and Glencore produce, there’s no problem. I think there’s going to be a great market for it. I’d be really surprised if, once we go through this uncertainty over the next three or four months, nickel prices aren’t back in the saddle again.”
On Wednesday, Ortslan said fears of supply shortages – especially after Indonesia banned nickel exports – are driving prices right now. “The supply side is dominating the market trend,” he said in an email. “The demand side is strong but the impact of electric vehicles are still some time away.”
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