Goldman Says Nickel Stock Build Partly Result of Qingdao Probe

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Rising London Metal Exchange nickel stockpiles are a result of inventories shifting out of storage in Australia and China and don’t reflect real supply and demand, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Stockpiles tracked by the LME rose 25 percent this year to a record 326,466 metric tons even with a ban on ore exports from Indonesia and rising global demand. As much as 80,000 tons of the almost 185,000-ton inventory increase since the start of 2013 is due to metal moving from Australian stockpiles and out of Chinese bonded warehouses after a probe into loan fraud in Qingdao Port, Goldman Sachs analysts including Max Layton said in a report dated yesterday.