"Norilsk Nickel" continues to sell overseas assets

Manual «Norilsk Nickel» in the face of Pavel Fedorov, executive director voiced the decision on sale of assets owned by the company, located in South Africa and Botswana, as a package deal, which will be completed in the next few months. At the auction exhibited 50% of South African production «of Nkomati», created at the time as a joint project of «Norilsk Nickel» and the company «African Rainbow Minerals», and 85% of production «Tati Nickel», located in Botswana. This action is part of the implementation of «Norilsk Nickel» project unprofitable assets that do not contribute to an increase in production capacity in the framework of the new strategy of the company.

As for the Chinese nickel, that according to information provided by the news agencies, the company «Shanghai Futures Exchange» this year plans to launch futures contracts on the tin and nickel in China, allowing China to take another step towards the world market of these products. The nickel market continues to be in a rather unfavorable conditions that are affected by the Indonesian ban on the export of raw materials. Despite significant metal resources in China, in the order of 250−300 thousand tons, they are unlikely to be enough even for the current year. According to analysts «Macquarie» the average price of nickel in 2014 will reach 19 910 USD / ton, this figure will rise in 2015 to the level of 26 001 USD / ton, and in 2016 will increase to 30 000 USD / ton.

Under assumptions of analysts, the Indonesian ban with respect to nickel raw materials may be adversely affected and the cost of aluminum production. The cost of nickel is adjusted value of bauxite — the truth, aluminum prices are unlikely to increase at the same rate that the price of nickel products. At the end of June, the price of nickel on the London Stock Exchange collapsed the first time in the seven-day period, what has affected the level of reserves growth, thus ensuring the necessary boundary proposals. In general, the value decreased by 1.6% compared to the previous period and amounted to 18 130 USD per tonne, occasionally falling to the level of 18 096 USD per tonne. The volume of nickel on the London Stock Exchange warehouses rose by 0.3%, to a level of 305 388 tonnes — this mark is very close to the previous record last week. Increase in provision reduces the concerns about supply shortages, that does not negate the fact appreciation of nickel in connection with the ban on exports to Indonesia.