Contracts shield Asia’s EV battery makers from nickel surge, for now
Nickel prices doubled on Tuesday to more than $100,000 per tonne.
Nickel prices doubled on Tuesday to more than $100,000 per tonne.
In the heady days of the 2000s commodities supercycle, Vale made a $17 billion bet on a metal used mainly to make stainless steel.
The frenzied move was the largest-ever on the LME.
The ferocity of the price action over the last 24 hours speaks to a forced liquidation of positions, a buy-back in a liquidity vacuum, writes Andy Home.
Prices have doubled in the past five trading days as intensifying fears over Russian supplies leave buyers exposed to a historic squeeze.
A massive squeeze pushed nickel prices up by as much as 250%, the most extraordinary surge in the 145-year history of the LME.
Copper scales $5 for the first time ever, metallurgical and thermal coal hit record highs and nickel jumps more than 20% in a day.
Metal price jumped as fears of major disruptions to supplies due to financial sanctions on Russia fuelled a buying frenzy.
The latest spike comes as clients with short positions have been stopped out of the trades, a nickel trader involved in the transactions said.
Industrial metals "are just waking up" to the supply risk from Ukraine-Russia war, low stockpiles and soaring energy costs.