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Nickel
Introduction
Nickel belongs to the non-ferrous metals family. It is a metal with a bright future as it is the main alloying metal needed to produce certain types of stainless steel. The strength and life span of products built with stainless steel is vastly superior to similar products built with non-stainless steels. The metal is corrosion-resistant, finding many uses in alloys, as plating, in the manufacture of coins, magnets and common household utensils.
Nickel is also used in the electronics industry and within this industry a significant growth area has been mobile technology. Mobile phones, computers, digital cameras etc all need small, lightweight high capacity power sources and nickel cadmium and other nickel alloys have been used to produce some of these batteries.
Nickel prices are most volatile among the non-ferrous metals because of its usage and narrow demand supply curve.
Major applications
- Stainless steel : 60%
- Alloys : 22%
- Plating : 6%
- Chemicals : 5%
Indian Scenario
- India does not have any history related to the metal nickel. India neither has any resources nor does it indulge in the mine as well as plant production of the metal. But as one of the fastest developing nations of the world, Indian demand for stainless steel and consequently nickel has been rising at a high rate. A rising demand and no production make the country totally import dependent.
- India imports around 30,000 MT of Nickel annually.
- India's heavy investments in construction of high-rise buildings, heavy machineries and bridges are boosting demand for stainless steel thus Nickel.
- The outlook for demand in India is strong with plans underway to build airports, underground and elevated rail lines all of which needs large quantities of stainless steel.
- India's stainless steel consumption is expected to expand by about 12 percent annually.
- Nearly 75 percent of stainless steel in India is used for kitchenware, but this is expected to drop to 65 percent in five years when the share of construction, automobiles and railways rise to about 10 percent from 4 percent.
Factors influencing Nickel prices
Like all other industrial metals, LME remains the benchmark for Nickel pricing. Major factors influencing Nickel prices are:
- Demand from major consuming industries and countries
- Growing consumption of Stainless Steel
- Inventories in LME Warehouses
- Threat of substitutes
- Participation of Commodity Funds
- World supply of nickel from the scrap
