World nickel market forecasts

Abstract

Nickel is one of the metals whose production and consumption are used to judge a country's level of development. Nickel consumption is largely diversified by region. The greatest demand for the metal is in industries focused on the production of consumer goods and construction materials, as well as in the chemical industry and automotive industry. The market of non-ferrous metals, including nickel, is very unstable and if we analyze the price dynamics for the pure metal, we can conclude that the dynamics is negative and there is a high price dispersion (volatility) of nickel. According to the latest forecasts of foreign experts, the expected growth of the world economy will result in growth of demand for stainless steel, production of which absorbs up to two thirds of the world nickel supplies, thus resulting in growth of nickel prices. At the same time, the high volatility of the global nickel market makes it impossible to reliably forecast the future trends of its development.