Nickel Rises to 3-Month High as BHP Billiton Mine Halts Output By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel rose to the highest in three months after a strike at BHP Billiton Ltd.'s Cerro Matoso mine in Colombia halted production that accounts for about 4 percent of world output. Tin traded at a record.
BHP Billiton, based in Melbourne, cannot say how long the operations will be affected by the strike which began today, spokeswoman Samantha Evans said. The mine produced about 52,700 metric tons of nickel in 2007, according to London-based consulting company CRU, compared with global output of 1.54 million tons.
``The bull is looking for a reason for nickel to join the rally,'' Tony Warwick-Ching, a nickel analyst at CRU in London, said today by phone. ``There's plenty of nickel around.''
Nickel for delivery in three months advanced $1,349, or 4.6 percent, to $30,549 a ton as of 12:24 p.m. in London. Earlier it traded at $30,900 a ton, the highest intraday price since Nov. 19.
Nickel has risen 16 percent this year, lagging behind copper and aluminum, as demand from stainless-steel mills, the largest users of the metal, is recovering. Acerinox SA, Spain's biggest stainless-steel maker, posted a fourth-quarter loss as prices and demand were ``exceptionally low,'' the company said Feb. 26.
CRU forecast a recovery of the stainless-steel industry in the second quarter.
Rising Inventories
Nickel stockpiles monitored by the LME rose 282 tons, or 0.6 percent, to 47,868 tons, paring this year's decline to 0.2 percent.
Tin climbed $500, or 2.8 percent, to $18,450 a ton. The metal, used in electronic soldering and food cans, has reached a record every day this week on concern of limited exports from China and Indonesia, the world's two largest producers. The Democratic Republic of Congo, another major miner, also banned exports in the eastern Walikale region, the country's most productive, because of a lack of security.
Copper gained $5 to $8,440 a ton and aluminum dropped $5 to $3,086. Lead declined $40 to $3,305. Zinc increased $5 to $2,690.
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