14 February 2022 – Nickel with strong gain on Monday morning. After inflation worries had slightly weighed on the commodity exchanges on last Friday, important metal values are rocketing away today. Chinese spot prices for stainless steel increase strongly. US steelmaker reports noticeable increase in demand from the automotive sector. And China has reported record sales of new energy vehicles in 2021 and is targeting sales of ten million units per year in the near future.
LME Nickel +4.5%: European metal stocks make significant gains
European nickel jumped by more than 4.5% at the start of trading on the LME, after nickel on the SHFE had already closed decently up. Aluminium, too, was up by almost 3%. In addition, energy stocks such as natural gas (ICE TTF Natural Gas +9.1%) and crude oil (WTI and Brent both up more than +1.3%) rise.
The continuing tensions in the Ukraine-Russia crisis are the decisive factors here, after inflation data from the United States had still led to profit-taking in some base metals on Friday. So the week is kicking off in a very interesting way.
Chinese stainless steel prices with a strong plus
Spot prices for Chinese stainless steel rose by more than 6% in some cases on Monday. Stainless steel futures on the SHFE also continued to climb, gaining more than 2.45%.
Automotive: US steelmakers report significantly increased demand
Since the shortage of semiconductor chips has receded, we have seen an increase in demand for steel. As reported weeks ago, manufacturers have now officially confirmed significantly stronger sales from the automotive sector. This is likely to fuel prices and tighten availability. Thorsten Gerber, CEO of Gerber Group, said today: “Make sure you take this development into account in your procurement strategy for 2022.”
Chinese new energy vehicle sales to rise to 10 million units per year
The Chinese New Vehicle market has seen record sales of 3 million units in 2021. For 2025, these sales are expected to increase to 10 million units per year. This is likely to have a significant impact on the availability of nickel, cobalt, lithium and other battery metals, which are currently already in short supply and mining and manufacturing faces its own challenges. In January 2022, a major European lithium project was cancelled in Serbia.
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
