Nickel for delivery in three months advanced 7.4 percent last week to settle at $16,450 a metric ton last Friday on the London Metal Exchange, the biggest jump since last month. The commodity has gained more than 18 percent this year.
Even if prices has risen sharply recently, nickel prices are expected to remain in positive territory through 2015, as the ban on Indonesian raw nickel continues and as exports from the Philippines drop due to seasonal changes.
The Philippines, which makes up roughly nine per cent of the nickel market and the only other major source of the high-grade laterites required by Chinese NPI factories after Indonesia, is soon heading into monsoon season with heavy rains expected to impact mining production.
