The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) soared by US$215/ton last Friday (May 28), closing at US$18,113/ton, which has risen for three trading days in a row. The spot price also rose greatly by US$218/ton to US$18,078/ton.

The current average nickel price of this month is US$17,572/ton, higher than the US$16,507/ton in April.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel dropped by 288 tons to 247,494 tons. The cumulative decrease in May has reached 14,541 tons so far.

According to market participants, nickel prices were driven again by the US $6 trillion budget proposal to promote infrastructure, higher stainless steel output in China, and increased demand from markets except for China. In the short term, nickel prices were expected to keep stable.