#Chinese #Nickel demand to increase, but build-up in capacity to cap prices
Chinese nickel demand from stainless steel and battery materials producers will continue to rise in near future, although extensive investments in nickel projects will cap higher nickel prices.
The growth in battery materials production led by expectations of a boom in electric vehicles (#EVs) will also drive higher #Nickel consumption.
“#China produced 100,000 tonnes of ternary battery materials in 2017, up 100% from 2016; meanwhile, production is expected to rise about 30% in 2018,” Xu Aidong, chief analyst at Beijing Antaike, said.
As a result, there has been aggressive investment by #Chinese producers in new nickel projects, especially in #Indonesia, in order to secure the resources for these two areas of growth.
Most recently, Chinese #Cobalt producer Huayou Cobalt announced in November it is to invest in a joint venture with other four companies to build a laterite ore hydrometallurgy plant producing nickel intermediate products in Morowali, Indonesia.
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