LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange’s (LME) nickel nightmare continues. U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management and trading house Jane Street are suing the exchange for $456 million and $15.3 million respectively over its handling of the nickel market meltdown in March.
The LME suspended trading in its nickel contract at 0815 UK local time on March 8 after the price exploded to $101,365 per tonne. It also cancelled all trades between midnight and the market halt.
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The recent big investments Chinese companies are making in Indonesian nickel mines are attracting renewed attention. China’s CNGR Advanced Materials Co Ltd. announced on May 19 that it will expand its nickel matte business in Indonesia, partnering with Singapore’s RIGQUEZA International Co., LTD.
A total investment of $1.26 billion will be put in a production line in Indonesia with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons of nickel matte. This is the second cooperation between the two companies in Indonesia. In 2021, the two sides signed a cooperation project agreement to produce 60,000 tons of nickel matte per year.
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) – Global nickel usage surged by an extraordinary 16.2% last year on the back of booming demand from both the dominant stainless steel and fast-growing battery end-use sectors.
The result was a supply shortfall of 168,000 tonnes, the largest production deficit in at least a decade, according to the International Nickel Study Group’s latest statistical snapshot on the market.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk on Saturday in Texas to discuss potential investments and technology, Indonesia’s government said in a statement.
The meeting between Musk and Widodo, better known as Jokowi, came after a round of working-level discussions on a potential investment in Indonesia’s nickel industry and supply of batteries for electric vehicles, Indonesian officials told Reuters.
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The Indonesian government has claimed that its raw nickel export ban, which started in January 2021, has shown positive impacts after seeing increases in mining investments and exports of nickel-derived products.
This statement seems to be premature, considering that the government has failed to disclose the data that can support this argument. The Indonesian government has long desired to add high value to domestic mining products, especially nickel, through downstreaming.
LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) – London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month nickel is currently trading at $35,150 per tonne. This is in itself something of an achievement for the exchange. It’s not been easy restarting the London nickel market after its March 8 breakdown and ensuing week-long suspension.
Since trading resumed on March 16 we’ve had four limit-down days and two limit-up days, briefly interrupted by a day of almost normal trading on March 22. Official and closing prices have been declared “disruption events” six times.
Nickel surged by the 15% exchange limit for a second day in London, putting the spotlight back on bearish position holders just two weeks since the market was roiled by an historic short squeeze.
Nickel futures remained locked at the price limit by Thursday afternoon on the London Metal Exchange, as the latest spike extends a period of unprecedented turmoil for the market. Prices soared over 250% over two trading sessions in early March during the short squeeze centered on China’s Tsingshan Holding Group Co., before the market was suspended.
The London Metal Exchange’s two-week-long inability to facilitate the free flow of nickel trades has locked up the nickel market from investment and sowed uncertainty across the metal’s supply chain.
The LME provides crucial price transparency for nickel suppliers and buyers negotiating long-term nickel supply deals and gives critical signals to financers looking to back production capacity growth amid high prices.
London | To understand why Xiang Guangda is regarded as the Steve Jobs of metals, look at an aerial shot of the Morowali Industrial Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It is here that the Chinese businessman built a vast manufacturing complex that stands as a testament to his domination of the global stainless steel industry.
“Xiang is a visionary,” says Kenny Ives, the former head of nickel trading at Glencore. “Tsingshan’s success in both China and Indonesia over the last 10 to 15 years is extraordinary.”
March 14 (Reuters) – (This March 13 story corrects size of Morowali industrial park in paragraph 20, and to show production data is for whole company, not only for its Sulawesi facilities, in paragraph 21)
Chinese tycoon Xiang Guangda has to find a way to bail his Tsingshan Holding Group out of a crisis after its bet on nickel prices backfired, fuelling more volatility in a metal essential for the electric vehicles industry.
One of the world’s top nickel producers faces massive losses on its short positions after prices soared over $100,000 per tonne last week and forced the London Metal Exchange to halt nickel trading.
(Bloomberg) — Indonesia, the world’s top nickel producer, will raise production capacity of the metal after prices soared past $100,000 a ton, while the coal market is unlikely to get similar relief.
The country is set to add 393,000 tons to 400,000 tons of nickel in metal output capacity this year, bringing the total to as much as 1.4 million tons, according to Coordinating Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs Luhut Panjaitan. Next year, Indonesia will add another 500,000 tons of annual production capacity, he added.
The global nickel market is in a pricing black-out. The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month nickel price sits in suspended animation at $48,048 per tonne, Monday’s closing price and the last trade with even a semblance of legitimacy.
Tuesday’s mayhem and the resulting decision by the LME to suspend all trading has frozen what is the core reference price for the global supply chain stretching from miners to stainless steel mills and electric vehicle battery makers.
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London Metal Exchange, meanwhile, takes emergency measures to halt trading in nickel on Tuesday
An unprecedented surge in nickel prices fueled by the war in Ukraine is turning a once-sputtering portfolio of mines into prized assets, Bloomberg News said Tuesday.
In the 2000s commodities supercycle, Brazilian iron ore giant Vale SA made a $17 billion bet on a metal used mainly to make stainless steel, the agency noted. The purchase of Canadian nickel miner Inco Ltd., announced in 2006, was part of then-CEO Roger Agnelli’s goal of turning Vale into a diversified global heavyweight at a time of seemingly insatiable Chinese demand for raw materials.
(Bloomberg) — An unprecedented surge in nickel prices fueled by the war in Ukraine is turning a once-sputtering portfolio of mines into prized assets.
In the heady days of the 2000s commodities supercycle, Brazilian iron ore giant Vale SA made a $17 billion bet on a metal used mainly to make stainless steel. The purchase of Canadian nickel miner Inco Ltd., announced in 2006, was part of then-CEO Roger Agnelli’s goal of turning Vale into a diversified global heavyweight at a time of seemingly insatiable Chinese demand for raw materials.
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.
