Glencore Sees Nickel in Best Shape in Decade Before EVs Take Off

Miner has one of biggest deficit outlooks on back of steel use
Firm doesn’t expect material EV impact on nickel until 2020

A worker monitors furnaces at the MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC copper refinery in Norilsk, Russia, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Norilsk Nickel, which mines the rich deposits of nickel, copper and palladium near Norilsk, has spent 2.5 billion rubles ($40 million) to lay fiber-optic cabling in the Siberian tundra.Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

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By Mark Burton

November 21, 2017 at 11:52 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Glencore Plc is seeing the best market conditions for nickel in at least a decade, and electric cars are barely playing a part yet.

The miner and trading giant expects nickel’s 2017 deficit at 170,000 metric tons -- one of the biggest in years and more than most market estimates -- driven by a 9 percent demand increase from the steel industry, the top user. The market is tightening amid falling stockpiles and rising premiums for physical deliveries, said Owen Gibbs, a senior nickel trader at Glencore.