The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged by US$306/ton yesterday (August 5), closing at US$14,419/ton. The spot price also sharply rose by US$311/ton to US$14,381/ton.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel continued increasing by 198 tons, reaching 235,470 tons. The cumulative increase in August was 228 tons so far.

According to market participants, nickel prices continued soaring because the COVID-19 epidemic restricted mining activities, the Philippines' nickel ore output might decrease this year, and China’s stainless steel futures and spot prices hiked greatly. It was expected that the short-term nickel price will run stably unless macro factors affected it.