Nickel prices, which affect the stainless steel market directly, have been on a rising trend since mid-June this year. However in the last week the Indonesian government’s announcement that it will prohibit exports of crude nickel increased concerns about supply in the nickel market, causing sharp rises in trading volumes and prices at London Metal Exchange (LME) and at Shanghai Futures Exchange. Nevertheless, market sources have begun to comment that it is too soon to worry about supply yet. Accordingly, nickel prices have started to indicate slight corrections, standing at $14,305/mt today, July 24.
On the other hand, in the nickel report published by Goldman Sachs in June, nickel is mentioned as the best performing metal among the base metals traded at LME this year, while the report pointed out that the three-month nickel price at LME increased by over 14 percent since the start of the current year.