The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged by US$567/ton yesterday (October 25), closing at US$20,306/ton, and the highest intraday hit US$20,465/ton. Also, the spot price rose greatly by US$638/ton, reaching US$20,945/ton.

Since this month, LME nick futures have risen by US$2,370 in total, and spot price has also hiked by US$2,548.5.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel continued dropping, down by 462 tons to 141,984 tons. The decrease in October has amounted to 15,078 tons so far.

According to market participants, the supply concerned the market because Indonesia’s nickel ore supply was blocked and ERAMET S.A.’s ferronickel production in New Caledonia dropped by 19% due to the COVID-19 epidemic, thereby boosting nickel prices. In the short term, nickel prices were expected to keep stable.