| The current demand for high quality nickel used in batteries is very small in comparison to overall world nickel production. This will continue for the foreseeable future. Nickel is trading at very low prices historically and most producers are losing money at current prices. This would imply that the current supply of nickel is more than sufficient for the worlds needs and that some producers need to shut down. (Why they don’t is fascinating on its own) Most of the worlds nickel production is low quality ferro nickel used in the production of stainless steel. Despite this we are not seeing larger premiums for high quality nickel products which would indicate that there is more demand for high quality nickel. High quality/ high cost nickel producers know that their only chance to survive the over supply of cheap nickel in the world is if we see the same over exuberance as which we have seen with cobalt trading in recent months. The only problem is that nickel is a much larger market than cobalt and as such is not as susceptible to small market changes, and as the article points out nickel does not face the same geopolitical supply risk as cobalt does in the Congo. We are unlikely to see a shortage of Nickel. |