Battery area will become the "new leader" of nickel price

From a fundamental perspective, the supply and demand gap of the global nickel market will reach 120,000 tons by 2018, an increase of 40,000 tons over 2017. Nickel inventories both at home and abroad are expected to decline further and the nickel price center of gravity is expected to shift upward. However, the fluctuations will continue to be severe during the operating range For 10,500 US dollars to 15,000 US dollars / ton, the average price of 12,000 US dollars / ton. In the context of a marked slowdown in the growth of stainless steel, the incremental nickel from electric vehicle batteries will highlight the role of nickel price, and the battery industry will become the "new leader" of nickel price. However, nickel for new energy batteries in the downstream consumption accounted for a substantial increase still takes a long time. The main contradiction that determines the nickel price in the recent 1 to 2 years will also be the trend of the supply of nickel-iron in Indonesia and the development of the stainless steel industry in Indonesia.