China's nickel consumption will increase by 7% in 2013

Abstract According to the Australian Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) expects world nickel consumption in 2013 than in 2012 increased by 3 percent to 1.7 million tons, mainly due to the increase in the construction industry and related activities will consume more of stainless steel products. The agency expects that China is on nickel...
According to the Australian Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), world nickel consumption will increase by 3% in 2013 to 1.7 million tons in 2012, mainly due to the construction industry and related activities will consume more stainless steel products. The agency expects that China's consumption of nickel will increase by 7% year-on-year to 82,500 tons. This increase will partially offset the negative impact of the EU's expected year-on-year decline of 3% and nickel consumption to 323,000 tons.

At the same time, the agency expects global nickel production to fall by 2% in 2012 to 2.1 million tons compared to 2012; Indonesia's nickel production this year is expected to fall from 460,000 tons in 2012 to 39 this year. Ten thousand tons. In addition, global refined nickel production will stabilize at around 1.7 million tons this year. The agency expects that in fiscal year 2012-2013 (as of June 30), Australia's total refined nickel production will reach 128,000 tons, up 5% from the previous fiscal year.

In terms of nickel prices, the agency said that the average spot nickel price in the first quarter of 2013 was about $17,314 per ton, up 2% from the previous month. However, since February this year, nickel prices have been declining, and due to the decrease in demand for refined nickel in the Asia-Pacific market, nickel prices have fallen to $14,000/ton in mid-June. In the second half of the year, high inventories are expected to constrain nickel prices. The average price of nickel for the year is around $15,400/ton, down 12% from 2012.