(all ton listings are metric tons = 2204.6 pounds)
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1-31 |
LME nickel closed the day and month
$6.59/lb.
* Molybdenum dropped to $30.50/lb. 10% lower than 2 weeks ago,
but still 10X what is was 2 years ago.
* Canaccord Capital is forcasting an average price of $6.21/lb
for 2005.
* LME nickel inventories near the 17M ton mark, dropping another
312 tons Friday to total 17,034 tons. |
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1-28
 |
LME nickel ends the day and week at
$6.54/lb.
* Scrap Magazine published numerous nickel predictions for 2005.
A Reuters poll of 31 analysts came up with yearly averages ranging from a
low of $4.98 to a high of $7.50/lb. SG predicts an average of $5.50/lb while
Scotiabank Group forecasts $6.0/lb. A Bloomberg poll of 20 analysts, predict
$5.90/lb as we reported Monday.
* Phelps Dodge, the world's second largest producer of copper,
saw fourth quarter profits increase from $125.3 million in 2003 to $341.1.
million in 2004. Sales in the same period rose 70% to $1.99 billion.
* Nickel inventories slipped by another 228 tons Thursday to
total 17,346 tons held in LME worldwide warehouses. |
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1-27 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.51/lb.
* Adanac Moly advises molybdenum dropped for the first time
in months from $34.50 to $31.85/lb. Chart below.
* LME nickel inventories continue to slide, falling by 312 tons
yesterday leaving a total of 17,574 tons. |
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1-26 |
LME nickel closed the day at $6.53/lb.
* LME inventories of nickel slipped below the 17M ton mark with a
withdrawal of 126 tons on Tuesday, leaving 17,886 tons. |
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1-25 |
LME nickel closed at $6.42/lb.
* Mineweb.net is quoting Scotiabank Group Vice President Patricia
Mohr as stating nickel will average approx $6/lb in 2005, copper will average
$1.28/lb, and zinc will continue to rise over the next two years. She also
predicts coking coal will hit record high's in 2005.
* Bloomberg quotes 20 analysts who predict nickel will average
$5.90/lb for 2005.
* LME nickel inventories dropped another 24 tons Monday totaling
18,012 tons on hand. |
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1-24 |
LME nickel closed at $6.42/lb.
* Oil increases to rise, closing today at $48.81/barrel. High
oil prices affect metal prices two ways - both by slowing economic growth
and affecting the US dollar. Both of these affect the metal prices.
* BHP Billiton & Anglo American plc, co-owners, have yet
to decide who they will sell Samancor Chrome, the world's largest producer
of ferrochrome, to. Among the 3 finalist bidders are Japan's Nippon Steel,
a UK holding company or a Russian ferrochrome distributor, and a Israeli
diamond tycoon. A decision had been expected by the end of last year.
* LME nickel inventories retreated by 18 tons on Friday to total
18,036 tons. |
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1-21 |
LME nickel ended the day and week at
$6.35/lb.
* LME nickel inventories fell by 72 tonnes yesterday to total 18,054
tons. |
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1-20 |
LME nickel ended at $6.48/lb.
* Universal Stainless announced sales for 2004 ended at $120.6
million with net income at $7.1 million. This compares to sales of $69 million
and a net loss of $1.4 million in 2003.
* Oil at $53/barrel today
* Yieh is reporting some overseas manufacturers have stopped quoting
316 and 316L due to the high cost of molybdenum. Inventories, however, remain
in good shape.
* Nickel invetories held by the LME fell by 30 tons yesterday to total
18,126 tons. |
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1-19 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.53/lb.
* Dollar continues to strengthen against Euro, putting further pressure
on metals prices.
* LME inventories took another big hit on Tuesday, falling by 564
tons to total 18,156 tons on hand. |
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1-18 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.65/lb as the
dollar gained on the Euro.
* Nickel inventories stored by LME took a big hit yesterday,
dropping 696 tons to leave 18,720 tons on hand |
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1-17 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.74/lb.
* China Daily 1/17/05 "In 2004, Jinchuan (city in China) yielded
73,000 tons of nickel, ranking it fourth in the world, after Russia, Canada
and Australia."
* LME nickel inventories continued to decline Friday - losing
another 288 tons to total 19,416 tons. |
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1-14 |
LME nickel ended the day and week at
$6.65/lb.
* Xstrata won approval from its shareholders yesterday to continue
with a hostile takeover bid of Australia's WMC Resources. WMC has rejected
the $5.7 billion dollar offer.
* Inventories of nickel fell another 126 tons Thursday, to total
19,704 tons |
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1-13 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.69/lb.
* Yieh is reporting Posco in Korea has announced it will raise
prices in February and slash production of 300 series stainless due to the
high cost of raw material.
* LME nickel inventories fell below 20M tons again yesterday,
when inventories fell by 414 tons to total 19,830. |
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|
1-12 |
Nickel trading on the LME closed at
$6.74/lb.
* Stainless steel flat washer inventories in the US becoming
critically low.
* LME nickel inventories slipped again yesterday, loosing 180
tons to total 20,244 tons. |
|
Stainless Steel Price Forecast 2005 - 2004 prices could best be defined with
any four letter expletive you care to express! Every ingredient used to make
stainless steel rose in 2004. And as 2005 begins, there aren't many reasons
to believe that will change anytime soon. Mineral stockpiles remain low,
and while every mine in the world is scrambling to produce as much nickel
and molybdenum as they possibly can to take advantage of the higher prices,
there isn't a whole lot more that the current mines can produce. While the
world nickel deficit is seen to end by the latter half of 2005, the first
half could get dicey. Two things will happen in May that will cause an
interesting market. The world's largest producer of nickel is Norilsk Nickel
in Russia typically can not ship as the Yenisei River floods. This year,
number two producer Inco has announced it will shut down its Copper Cliff
smelter down the same month for repairs. Typically mines shut down for repairs
during the slow period of July or August so the timing of this action has
raised eyebrows. Few other things to watch this year. The CAW has a union
contract set to expire in 2005 at Falconbridge's Timmins, Ontario mine.
Falconbridge also has a union contract expiring with the USW at the Raglan
mine and Inco has a union contract expiring at their Thompson, Manitoba mine.
Any of these go sour and we could see price hikes. Another factor in 2004
was the US dollar devaluation. While the Bush administration says it doesn't
support the lower dollar value, they have done very little to stop it and
many US economists believe they shouldn't. This has helped make US exports
cheaper to overseas buyers, while making imports more expensive to US buyers.
With base metals being traded around the world in dollars, a weaker dollar
raises metals prices. Last week the metals market saw a sudden drop in price
when the US Federal Reserve indicated it might raise interest rates
again soon, which caused the dollar to suddenly strengten. And, while
there were numerous reasons for price increases worldwide, one primary reason
gets much of the attention, and blame.
China. A country that just 20 years ago was basically a non factor in world
economics, is now becoming a major factor in the world economy, and will
become "the" major factor if the present trend continues. While the US government
has spent the last few years telling the rest of the world how it expects
them to act, the Chinese over the same period, have entered the market with
a wad of cash and a "we won't tell you how to run your country, don't tell
us how to run ours" attitude that is giving them serious legitimacy in the
world economic market. Economists seem to agree that China's economic growth
will slow from 9.3% in 2004 to 8% in 2005, but this will have a minimal affect
on metals prices.
Prediction - Stainless steel prices in the 18-8, 304 range have leveled off,
which should hold basically steady for awhile. No substantial decrease potential
is foreseen at this time. 316 stainless pricing has yet too peak, although
molybdenum prices are not expected to maintain their current $34.50/lb for
long. Nickel will stay in the $6 to $7/lb range for the first half of 2005,
and possibly retract to the $5 to $6/lb range by the latter half of the year.
If this prediction proves correct, then we will not see any substantial lowering
in stainless steel prices until late 2005/ or early 2006.
|
1-11 |
Nickel on the London Metal Exchange ended the day at
$6.85/lb.
* Inventories of nickel stored by the LME fell by 294 tons to
total 20,424 tons on Monday. |
|
|
1-10 |
LME nickel closed the day at $6.76/lb.
* Nickel inventories stored in LME warehouses fell by 204 tons
Friday to total 20,718 tons. |
|
|
1-7 |
LME nickel ended the day and week at
$6.80/lb.
* Molybdenum stayed steady this week at $34.50/lb. This time
last year, moly was at $8.00/lb, already double its average in 2003.
* Once again, LME nickel inventories showed no change, totaling
20,922 tons for the third day. |
|
|
1-6 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.58/lb.
* Yieh is reporting Posco of Korea has agreed to pay BHP $125/ton
for high quality coking coal beginning in April 2005, more than double the
$57.50/ton it paid in this last fiscal year.
* LME nickel inventories showed no change from Tuesday, at 20,922
tons. |
|
|
1-5 |
Nickel rebounded today, closing at
$6.53/lb.
* LME inventories gained 24 tons of nickel Tuesday to total 20,922
tons. |
|
|
1-4 |
LME nickel ended the day at $6.42 as a strengthened
dollar caused funds to take profits.
* WMC advises company worth 30% more than Xstrata's $5.8 million
dollar takeover bid.
* Yieh is reporting Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese steel mills
all raised prices on stainless last week, due to the rise in nickel prices.
* MEPS advises stainless steel producers increased profit margins
in 2004 - article
here
* LME nickel inventories begin 2005 at 20,898 tons after an
additional 6 tons was added last Friday. |
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1-3 |
The London Metal Exchange is closed today |
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|
12-31 |
LME nickel was hit by some profit taking and ended the year at
$6.75/lb.
* LME nickel inventories bumped backup by 84 tons to total 20,
892 tons. The year began with inventory on January 2, 2004 at 24.030 tons. |
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![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://kitconet.com/charts/metals/base/nickel-d.gif)
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Average December 2004 LME nickel price - $6.24/lb
Average February 2004 LME nickel price - $6.86/lb
Allegheny Ludlum Surcharges for February
|
|
Nickel |
Chrome |
Moly |
Iron |
2004
2005 |
304 |
.4250
.4079 |
.0401
.0741 |
NA |
.0300
.0852 |
2004
2005 |
316 |
.5313
.5098 |
.0356
.0659 |
.0979
.6552 |
.0300
.0822 |
arrow denotes price comparison to prior month
courtesy
Allegheny
Ludlum
Every effort is made to provide factual information in a timely manner
as a convenience to the reader. Any opinion given on this web site is just
that - a mere opinion, and the author is not responsible for any action taken
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and there is no guarantee of its accuracy. Any reproduction without
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