World Nickel market ended in 148 kt surplus: WBMS

The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that global Nickel market has recorded a surplus during the initial ten months of the year. As per the report, the Nickel market ended in excess of 148,000 tons when matched with the surplus of 186,700 reported during entire year 2013.

The reported stocks held in the LME at the end of October this year were 124,000 tons higher when compared with the levels during end-2013.

Refined Nickel production from January to October this year totaled 1,593.4 kt. The nickel smelter production during the month of October 2014 alone totaled 167.1 kt, whereas the consumption was 145.1 kt. The WBMS report also states that the Japanese refinery output declined sharply by 2.5 kt when compared with the previous year.

Global Nickel mine production declined significantly on account of the export ban in Indonesia. The ten-month production totaled 1,471.7 kt, nearly 27% down when compared with the production of 2,013.7 kt during the comparable period last year.

According to World Metal Statistics-December 2014 published on 17th Dec, 2014, the world apparent demand during the first ten months of the year was 30.7 kt lower year-on-year. The demand for refined nickel was 1445.7 kt during Jan-Oct ’14.