Nickel futures have been rising steadily since mid-March to trade above $15,800 per tonne in the last week of November, due to increased supply of nickel ore to China’s stainless steel sector, as the Chinese economy recovers from the coronavirus-hit. Nickel has gained near 14% this year, touching $15,976 a tonne on October 20th, the highest since November of 2019. However, the outlook for nickel remains challenging as Chinese stainless-steel producers face high input costs and sluggish global demand. South Africa approved an export tax on chrome ore, a key ingredient in stainless steel, aiming to support the local ferrochrome industry. The International Nickel Study Group Global expects nickel demand at 2.52 million tonnes in 2021 from 2.32 million tonnes this year.
Historically, Nickel reached an all time high of 54050 in May of 2007. Nickel - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on November of 2020.
Nickel is expected to trade at 15512.24 USD/MT by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 13557.19 in 12 months time.