Nickel appears to be on the road to recovery following the financial crisis when prices slumped to below $10,000/t in May 2009. The price currently stands at over $20,000/t and most analysts are optimistic about the year ahead. They anticipate prices will be buoyed by a combination of recovering demand and tight supplies; this in spite of the long and growing list of new nickel projects. The International Nickel Study Group (INSG) has compiled a list of 46 new “committed developments” that will substantially boost nickel supplies. However, analysts doubt that they will all come on stream as planned, especially those using more complex technologies such as high-pressure acid leaching. With regard to demand, the stainless steel sector is forecast to grow by 16%-17% in 2010, with strong recoveries in Europe, the USA and Japan. In its review of nickel to 2020, Metal Bulletin Research sees real consumption growing at an average of 3.4% per year. This growth would mean an additional annual demand of over 600 kt of nickel after a decade, absorbing the output of most projects currently in the pipeline. Metal Bulletin Weekly, 9 August 2010, p 21-22

http://www.icdachromium.com/industry_news.php?date=2010-08-16&s_date=August 16, 2010