The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged by US$367/ton yesterday (May 17), closing at US$17,911/ton, and the spot price also greatly rose by US$369.75/ton to US$17,885.75/ton.

The current average nickel price of this month has reached US$17,758/ton so far, higher than the US$16,507/ton in April.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel plunged by 1,152 tons to 254,982 tons. The cumulative decrease in May has reached 7,062 tons so far.

According to market participants, nickel prices have risen for two days due to the weakening US dollar, China’s full schedule of stainless steel output, and good demand in the new energy vehicle market. Nickel prices were expected to stabilize and move firmly.