Nickel futures fell below $15,000 per tonne, the lowest in over two months, as output cuts from Indonesia were not enough to counter the view of an oversupplied market. The Indonesian government reduced nickel mining quotas by 120 million tons to 150 million this year, cutting global supply by 35% from current levels.
This was due the surge of Chinese smelting projects in Indonesia after the latter prohibited the export of nickel ores in 2020. Indonesia was the host of 44 nickel smelting operations as of September, compared with four 10 years prior. Consistently, nickel warrants available at LME warehouses rose by 30,000 tonnes since the start of the year to 180,450 by midway through June. In the meantime, lingering skepticism over whether the White House will be refrain from reigniting aggressive tariffs against trading partners by the July 9th deadline also pressured base metals.
