IIG: What are the important historical uses of nickel and are there new uses that will drive demand higher into the future?

HP: For 2007, the breakdown for nickel consumption was as follows: 60% stainless steel, 7% alloy steel, 12% nickel based alloys (including aerospace and super alloys, electronics and chemical uses), 1.5% copper-based alloys, 11% plating, and all others including batteries totalled 9%. And these figures have remained relativel stable over the last decade.

HG: How is the US nickel market different from the nickel market in China?

HP: It’s a little like comparing apples and oranges. Nowadays we look at the U.S. as a unique market. We have certain segments doing well in the US, which aren’t doing well in other countries. China is one of the important drivers in nickel, and its consumption is more than twice as high as U.S. consumption, depending on which figures you take. In 2007 in China, you have 320,000 metric tonnes (Mt) usage, and in the U.S., you have a larger portion of nickel being applied for super alloys and aerospace and a relatively small portion is used for stainless steel because in the U.S> you have plenty of scrap nickel for that purpose. In China, the scrap ratios are much smaller than in the U.S. Last year China’s stainless steel output was around 7.5 million tonnes and in the US it was just over 2 million tonnes. So the structures have completely changed in the last decade. The US was producing more before and they have now become a big importer of stainless steel, particularly finished products.