Scientists Find out Rare ‘Nickel Eating’ Plant in Philippines

In Philippines, scientists have discovered a special plant which has the ability to eat nickel metal. The newly founded plant species Rinorea niccolifera, as it name indicates can absorb large quantity of nickel without harming itself. It doesn’t eat nickel like Venus plant eats insects; instead, Rinorea absorbs nickel from the soil, growing in nickel rich soil.

The group of scientists from the University of Philippines discovered this special plant species in Philippines. Professor Edwino Fernando, the lead researcher and author of a new paper on palnt said that it absorbs nickel through its leaf. It can absorb about 18,000 parts per million of nickel. This is up to 1000 times greater than the nickel absorbing capacity of most other plants.

The new nickel eating plant is one of the only 450 species out of 300,000 known vascular plants species which can intake a significant amount of metal. These kinds of metal eating plants have a significant place of interest in mining industry as well as environmental advocates. The new plant species Rinorea niccolifera can make our ecosystem clean as it can be planted to remove hazardous metallic materials from the air, especially near mining factories. 

Another value of the plant is that once it has absorbed a sufficient amount of metal, it can also be used for harvesting to extract commercially valuable contents. Augustine Doronila of the University of Melbourne who co-authored the paper with Fernando explained that the hyper accumulator plants had great potential for the development of green technologies.

US Aluminum Imports Surge: Is It All About Rusal ?

An article last week from Reuters reports US aluminum imports surged in March to 264,100 tons, the highest since August of last year, up 11% from February and 14% higher than March 2013.

The sharp rise in physical delivery premiums in January has undoubtedly had an impact, but physical delivery premiums have been rising everywhere in the first quarter so this may not be the whole story. Interestingly, inflows from Russia, the home of UC Rusal, the world’s largest primary producer, were particularly dramatic, partially reversing a years-long decline.

Over 44,000 metric tons arrived in March, more than double March 2013 levels and up 52% from February. The total exceeded long-term monthly averages and was almost three times the monthly average of 16,000 tons last year, Reuters reported. With the Midwest premium at 20c/lb, it is not unreasonable to expect that strong delivery premiums have played a large part, but it should not be overlooked that UC Rusal is a declared backer of the new CME aluminum contract and it’s possible the firm may also have been positioning metal to create liquidity.

Most see the strong rise in imports as evidence the US market is in deficit following closures by Alcoa and others, and the failure of the Hannibal smelter late last year. Certainly the surge in imports would support this and the strong physical delivery premiums since January add further weight to this argument.

Still, other developments, particularly reductions in LME inventory in the US, show a repositioning of aluminum from higher-cost LME warehouses to lower-rent off-warrant warehouses as banks, hedge funds and financial institutions involved in the stock and finance game look to lower their costs and maximize returns.

North American LME warehouse inventory fell from 1.9 million tons in January to 1.7 million tons by the end of the quarter.

Figures for April imports are not out yet, but are eagerly awaited to see if the trend has continued; if Q2 continues as Q1 finished it would add weight to the tight market theory. If imports tail off back to last year’s levels, it would suggest the surge may have had more to do with positioning for the new CME contract. Either way it shows changes are happening in the aluminum market – and that’s not a bad thing.

Rusal forecasts strong growth in demand for aluminium in China

THE WORLD'S largest aluminium producer UC Rusal yesterday said it expects strong growth in demand from China this year, as it reported flat first-quarter revenue and a fall in output.

The Moscow -headquartered company forecasts global aluminium demand of six per cent this year, with a 10 per cent increase in China , the world's largest consumer of commodities.

"We are seeing positive trends," said chief executive Oleg Deripaska .

Rusal's aluminium production fell by 2.3 per cent to 883,000 tonnes in the first quarter, which it attributed to mothballed smelters in parts of Russia .

Revenue remained at $2.1bn (£1.25bn), as the 3.4 per cent decrease in the aluminium price over the period was offset by higher volumes sold and higher average realised premiums.

Nickel Prices may top $30,000 a metric ton by Citigroup

Nickel, this year’s best-performing metal, is set to rally an additional 43 percent by the end of next year as supply concerns prompt investors to pile in, according to Citigroup Inc.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows nickel’s open interest, or the number of contracts yet to be closed, liquidated or delivered, has surged for five straight months to a record 316,793. Prices rallied 51 percent this year after Indonesia, the largest producer of the metal from mines, banned exports of unprocessed ore in January.

The jump in open interest is “reflecting the extreme nature of change that the nickel market is facing with the Indonesian export ban,” David Wilson, an analyst at Citigroup in London, said in a telephone interview. “It’s the only real story that anybody is interested in, from an investor perspective.”

Prices may top $30,000 a metric ton in 2015, according to Citigroup, which last year correctly predicted that Indonesia would implement the export ban. The last time the commodity traded above that level was in April 2008. Nickel settled at $21,000 a ton yesterday on the London Metal Exchange.

Increasing open interest at a time when prices are rising, can indicate that traders are adding to long positions, or bets on price gains. When prices are declining, the increase in open interest may mean traders are adding to wagers on price declines.

Exit Poll Prediction All India 2014

Demand for Zinc in Agriculture Grows due to Increased Population and Food Consumption

 Due to increasing world population, which might be more than 9 billion by 2050 and improved diets, the demand for the zinc as micro-nutrient in the agriculture is increasing greatly. The main zinc chemicals which have the highest demand are zinc chloride, zinc sulfate, and zinc oxide, based on the reports of global market research by IHS.

Director of specialty chemicals at IHS Chemicals, Stefan Schlag said that zinc is an essential element for both animal and plants. Zinc deficiency has become a serious threat to the public health, especially in children. Thus many nations are implementing measures to increase the zinc fertilizer usage in zinc deficient regions, he added.

Now the total demand for zinc is about 1.5 million tons. Stefan said that this would exceed 1.8 million tons by the end of 2018 and about 400 thousand metric tons of the demand would be of agricultural demand, mainly in the form of zinc sulfate. In 2012 and 2013 China included Zinc fertilizers for major crop production.

This increased the production of Zinc fertilizers and use in China increased from 50,000 metric tons to 100,000 tons metric ton per year, based on IHS Chemical estimates. One of the most common micronutrient deficiency problems worldwide is zinc deficiency. The deficiency is especially found in grain crops. Reports of IHS says that nearly 50 percent of cultivate soil all around the world contains less amount of zinc and it would become 65 percent by 2018. It would decrease the production of edible plants.

Studies conducted in Brazil, India and China proved that zinc can increase the yield of crop from 8 percent to 20 percent yearly. With the declining amount of arable land per person and increasing population, global crop yield should be increased to meet up the food necessities. Due to these reasons IHS forecast a demand growth for Zinc, is so bullish on the agricultural sector.

It is time to sell Gold - Bank Of America

Last year it was Goldman Sachs telling clients to "dump your gold" (only to become the biggest buyers of the precious metal in the following quarter). Just last month, Morgan Stanley advised clients that 'gold will not see $1300 again'... and today, Bank of America joins the crowd as Macneil Curry advises "It is time to sell Gold" (to BAML we presume?)... as the range trade of the past month is completing and the downtrend is set to resume. 

BofAML notes...

It is time to sell Gold. The range trade / consolidation of the past month is drawing to a conclusion. Further gains should not exceed 1315.70 (May-05 high) AND CAN'T EXCEED the Mar-14 high at 1331. Downside targets are seen to 1215.

Sell Spot Gold at market (1300), risking 1325, targeting 1215, potentially below.

Last Call Of Bank Of America On GOLD Dated 27th Feb 2014

My personal Opinion = Create Short positions only below 1268.