LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – An Indonesian nickel producer has for the first time ever applied to have its metal listed as a good delivery brand on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Indonesia has rapidly emerged as the new powerhouse of global nickel production but until now has not produced the metal in the high-purity form traded on either the LME or the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
That will change if PT CNGR Ding Xing New Energy gets the official nod for its “DX-zwdx” brand of full-plate nickel cathode. It is likely to do so since the LME is fast-tracking new nickel listings as part of its recovery plan after the market meltdown in 2022. The policy appears to be paying off for the exchange with stocks and trading volumes rising.
For many other nickel producers, however, it marks an ominous moment in the transformation of Indonesia’s growing production dominance into exchange pricing power. The reaction is building in the form of growing calls for a premium “green” nickel contract.
STOCKS BOOSTER
Ding Xing New Energy has the capacity to produce 50,000 metric tons a year of Class I refined nickel having mastered the technology of converting Indonesia’s relatively low-grade ore into pure metal form.
For the rest of this column: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/nickel-producers-fear-growing-indonesian-pricing-power-2024-03-05/