The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose by US$130/ton yesterday (May 28th), closing at US$12,246/ton, and the spot price also hiked by US$132.75/ton to US$12,179.25/ton.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel decreased by 696 tons, reaching 233,502 tons. The cumulative increase in May was 2,746 tons.

According to market participants, stainless steel prices rebounded due to a tighter nickel ore supply in China and a lower inventory of 300 series stainless steel. However, the short-term nickel price was expected to remain at a slight fluctuation since the demand for stainless steel from China’s downstream buyers weakened.