Nickel prices climbed to the highest in nearly two months Thursday on the London Metal Exchange, rising 10% from mid-June to about $19,400 per ton over concerns that the Philippines may ban exports of the metal.
A bill to bar mineral ore exports was submitted to the country’s National Assembly, fueling fears of a shortage as the Philippines is a major nickel producer.
Indonesia blocked mineral exports in mid-January. Since then, Japan has relied on the Philippines and New Caledonia to fill the gap in supply. More than half of the metal imported from January to July came from the Philippines.
“We are eager to gain any information on how much support there is for the bill in the National Assembly,” said an executive at a nickel refinery.
The metal had been soaring since the beginning of the year. But buying subsided in June and prices have since crept down. LME’s warehouse stockpile reached 330,000 tons, or almost 20% of global demand.
“New concerns over a possible shortage could push prices up again,” warned Tetsu Emori at Astmax Asset Management.
(Nikkei)