Nickel Hits 8M High amid Unrest in French N.Caledonia

Nickel production in New Caledonia was already down after prices fell amid lower consumption in the battery sector and rising supply from Indonesia. Since then, mining licensing delays in Indonesia and sanctions on Russian non-ferrous metals have pushed prices back above $20,000/ton.

Several key nickel producers including Materion (MTRN) and Norilsk Nickel (GMKN) were talking about nickel “bottoming out” back in February, while most of the business media was actively scaremongering the markets with a flood of supply from Indonesia. Nickel prices have been rising ever since.