Posted on 07 Jan 2020
Nickel prices fell on Friday despite the Indonesian decision to ban nickel ore exports taking effect at the start of 2020.
Bearing in mind that Indonesia is the world's largest producer nickel ore and its decision to fully ban exports of the metal is aimed at building the countries reserve of nickel, as it is heavily used in its local stainless steel production.
Nickel is widely used in stainless steel and other industries such as electronics and batteries, which propelled these industries to increase their demand on the metal.
It was expected that the Indonesian decision will lead to a hike in nickel prices, on weak supply fears, but prices moved downward.
Most commodity and metal prices were buoyed the US and China reached the phase-one trade deal.
Nickel spot futures fell 1.1% to $13842.7 per tonne, as of 14:40 GMT.
Source:Economies
