Near-term nickel supply unlikely to stem demand
The price of nickel is expected to rise beyond its current stratospheric level
as new supply due later this year will fail to satisfy a growing need for the
metal in stainless steel, jet engines and hybrid cars, analysts said at the
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries' spring conference in New Orleans.
//--> Monday, April 23, 2007
The price of nickel is expected to rise beyond its current stratospheric
level as new supply due later this year will fail to satisfy a growing need for
the metal in stainless steel, jet engines and hybrid cars, analysts said at the
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries' spring conference in New
Orleans."We're likely to see upside price risk for the next two quarters with
some of the price pressures alleviated by the end of the year," said Jason
Schenker, economist at Wachovia Corp.
Schenker forecast a 2007 average benchmark London Metal Exchange price of
US$43,309 (HK$337,810.20) a tonne, slipping to a US$36,000 average in 2008 with
the addition of new supply. Meanwhile, he said he looks for shortages in the
face of current robust demand to send second and third quarter averages to
US$46,000 a tonne, nearly twice the 2006 average.
LME nickel soared to an all-time peak of US$50,150 a tonne last week and closed
Friday at US$48,700.
New supply anticipated by year end or early 2008 will probably be insufficient
to stem price gains, analysts said.
Seven large development projects are scheduled to add about 250,000 new tonnes
of nickel a year by 2010, but mines set to have opened by now have been fraught
with construction, environmental and other delays.
REUTERS
---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
