Nickel

A stainless steel and battery metal whose market the LME had to suspend during the 2022 squeeze.

Overview

Class one, over 99 percent pure and LME deliverable, and class two, ferronickel and nickel pig iron, split the market: stainless soaks up most units while batteries need class one or sulfate, a gap Chinese matte conversion bridged. Indonesia now mines around half the world and is building the refining to match, with its ore export bans having rerouted the entire industry. In March 2022 one trader holding most outstanding short positions faced a price that doubled in days, and the LME canceled 9,000 trades and rewrote its rules on limits and reporting. Batteries with high nickel cathodes frame the growth story while lithium iron phosphate chemistry competes for the same vehicles.