Low refined nickel stocks and a looming ban on exports of nickel ore from Indonesia are two factors creating a bullish nickel market, according to participants at the seventh Asian Nickel Conference held in Jakarta in mid-September.
Low refined nickel stocks at exchange-listed warehouses and the unlikelihood that huge amounts of nickel ore will be stockpiled at Chinese ports ahead of a ban on exports of the raw material by Indonesia next year prompted participants at the seventh Asia Nickel Conference in Jakarta on September 11-12 to take a bullish view on the metal's price direction. Fastmarkets' analysts forecast an average London Metal Exchange nickel cash price of $16,375 per tonne in 2020, an increase of 20.4% from a forecast average price of $13,603 per tonne this year. Inventories fall "Global nickel inventories have declined a lot since the start of 2019 and market participants hold different views on the steady decline seen in both LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange stock levels - whether it's mainly consumption-driven or is simply stocks being moved away to 'shadow warehouses'," Andy Farida, commodity research analyst at Fastmarkets,...