Nickel futures were trading around the $27,000 per tonne mark, moving away from a seven-month peak of $31,300 hit on December 7th, as prospects of increasing global supplies dented most of the optimism about a rebound in Chinese demand. Indonesian output rose substantially in 2022, accounting for nearly 50% of the world's global supply. On top of that, Xiang Guangda's Tsingshan Holding Group, one of the world's leading producers, is also seeking to boost production in China, which could double the country's stockpiles of refined nickel this year. Such changes in the international supply dynamics sparked concerns about a fresh bout of volatility for the LME contract forcing the metal exchange to step up its market surveillance. In early March, nickel briefly topped the $100,000 mark amid a vicious short squeeze.
Historically, Nickel reached an all time high of 54050 in May of 2007. Nickel - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on January of 2023.
Nickel is expected to trade at 29624.49 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 35482.44 in 12 months time.