Nickel rose to its highest level in more than a decade on Monday morning. London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month nickel has broken through January’s high of $24,435 per tonne to reach $24,610, a level last traded in 2011.
Time-spreads remain in the grip of a ferocious squeeze, the cash premium closing last week valued at $465 per tonne. The huge incentive for LME delivery has drawn some metal into exchange warehouses but not enough to halt the running downtrend.
The possibility of sanctions on Russia, which accounts for about 7% of global production and is a major exporter to both Western and Chinese markets, is in the bullish mix.
But the underlying driver of nickel’s price rally is electric.
Supercharging demand
A record 286.2 gigawatt hours (GWh) of passenger electric vehicle (EV) battery capacity was deployed onto roads globally last year, according to Adamas Intelligence.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/electric-vehicle-battery-demand-surge-supercharges-nickel-2022-02-21/