Nickel price set to go still higher

Reports published in the last few days suggest that nickel prices will be going still higher. According to Reuters the LME benchmark nickel price, which soared to over $50,000 last week, is set to rise because increases in supply during late 2007 and 2008 are unlikely to satisfy the strength of demand.

For original Reuters report see http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSN2122017020070422.

LME nickel prices are now shown - together with the latest nickel industry news - on http://www.steelonthenet.com/feeds/nickel.php.

blogger@steelonthenet.com

Steel industry investment moving East?

The Prague Daily Monitor today reports that 1000 layoffs are planned later this year in the Czech steel sector at Mittal Steel Ostrava (see http://launch.praguemonitor.com/en/69/czech_business/5200/). The same report makes mention also of the manning reductions planned in the Polish steel sector, where 2500 jobs are to be shed later this year.

Simultaneously, we read in today's Spiegel Online about the current labour dispute at Skoda (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,478052,00.html), which is all about wages at the Czech auto maker and wage differentials with car manufacturers in Western Europe.

But as noted by Spiegel Online, Central Europe is increasingly witnessing cases of potential investment moving further East to countries such as the Ukraine, where labour costs are cheaper still. Whilst Central Europe still has a long way to go in attaining German labour cost levels, workers should remember ... investors always have a choice.

blogger@steelonthenet.com

Free commodity metal price info

Free commodity metal price info is now provided online for aluminium, copper, magnesium, nickel, tin, titanium and zinc. Price charts are updated daily.

Please visit http://www.steelonthenet.com/charts.html


Andrzej M Kotas
Chief Executive
http://www.steelonthenet.com

Steel price uncertainty

The economists at www.steelonthenet.com observe with interest the current divergence in opinion about future international steel prices. MEPS latest report (March 2007; see http://www.meps.co.uk/steel%20price%20forecast%20na3-07.htm predicts a 'substantial rise in the average steel price' in the coming months, and recent steel industry headlines from Google agree with this viewpoint.

Thus, on Monday 2nd April 2007, we saw the following reports:

Great days for steel industry ahead as prices set to soar
Financial Express - Bombay,India
If the current high in steel prices is not the product of a grand global level manipulation and cartelisation, there are great news for the industry ...

Costlier iron ore: Steel makers to raise prices
Times of India - New Delhi,India
Some companies like Essar and Ispat, which do not have the advantage of captive raw material would be forced to increase steel prices from April to recover ...

However, today (Tuesday 3rd April 2007) the headlines read a little differently:

UBS says steel prices will fall through 2007
Resource Investor - Herndon,VA,USA
According to Peter Hickson, an analyst at UBS, steel prices are poised to fall through next year as inventories rise and exports from China increase ...

Commodities: Steel prices poised to decline
International Herald Tribune - France
LONDON: Steel prices are poised to fall through next year as inventories rise and exports from China increase, which will reduce profits at US Steel and ...

The team from www.steelonthenet.com is following this topic with great interest. Watch this space !

blogger@steelonthenet.com