Nickel Holds Soft Momentum

2025-09-29 12:26 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

Nickel futures were below $15,200 per tonne in latter September, holding their muted momentum since the start of the year as ample supply drove prices do underperform other base metals.

Supply remained ample amid the over-expansion of Indonesia's nickel sector since the country blocked the export of ores in 2020.

This drove the largest nickel consumers to establish refiners within Indonesia and capacity soared, leading to supply surpluses.

The Indonesian government reduced nickel mining quotas by 120 million tons to 150 million this year, cutting global supply by 35% from current levels, although soft bidding prices throughout the year indicated that markets don't see constraints dampening the oversupplied backdrop.

Available nickel stockpiles at LME warehouses rose by 55,000 tonnes this year to over 225,000, aligned with robust Chinese refiners in Indonesia, while stocks including off-warrant metal rose to over 300,000 tonnes, the most since data collection began in 2020.



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