Nickel may rise 20%: Credit Suisse Smelting output may grow at 4.6% this year said Credit Suisse The price for nickel, used to make stainless steel, may rise 20% as a shortage of smelters to process ore into metal constrains supply, Credit Suisse Group said in a report. Nickel may reach US$65,000/t in the "near term," Credit Suisse London-based analysts led by Jeremy Gray and Eily Ong said. Smelting output may grow at 4.6% this year compared with demand growth as high as 5% should stainless steelmakers rebuild inventories and global economic growth increase, the report said. Nickel for immediate delivery rose to a record US$54,050/t in London on May 15 as China`s economic growth fueled demand for the metal. Cost overruns and delays at BHP Billiton`s Ravensthorpe and Cia Vale do Rio Doce`s (CVRD) Goro projects, the two largest nickel mines under construction, exacerbated supply shortfalls, helping drive price increases. "Prices will remain strong over the next two years given the lack of supply growth until 2009 at the earliest," Gray and Ong wrote in the report. "The current profile of new smelters is unlikely to be enough to feed ongoing strong demand from the stainless steel industry in the next two years." (May 21 Bloomberg)
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