Reuters reported that premiums for tin and nickel in Europe are unlikely to be affected by planned increases in deliveries of the two metals from London Metal Exchange monitored warehouses, given that producers already supply enough to meet demand.
The exchange said that its board had accepted in principle a proposal for warehousing companies to deliver at least 60 tonnes a day of tin or nickel or a combination of the two metals.
The proposal is designed to provide greater access to metals that have a smaller share of the overall market, such as tin and nickel, so that customers do not have to endure lengthy waiting times to take delivery on contracts from warehouses, where there are already long queues for aluminum deliveries. Metal warehouses are part of a global network monitored by the LME, the world's leading marketplace for industrial materials, which aims to ensure metal traded via its contracts can be delivered reliably.
Nickel premiums for cut and full plate material in Rotterdam, paid over the LME cash price, were quoted at USD 250 to USD 275 and USD 20 to USD 100 a tonne, respectively, while briquette was lower at USD 150 to USD 180 due to ample availability of material.
A physical nickel trader said that "Most of the nickel is stored in Rotterdam, and you can pick it up fairly easily, but they have done this in case people start moving large amounts of material to Pacorini sheds in Vlissingen and suddenly it comes up behind the aluminum there. The LME don't want warehouses with big aluminum queues to be a dumping ground."
Glencore's Pacorini Metals owns most of the warehouses in Vlissingen, while all the big warehouse operators have LME-listed sheds in Johor.
Over the past few months, queues for metals such as aluminum have started to build up at LME registered warehouses Vlissingen and in Johor, resulting in delays of up to a year in collecting metal.
A second nickel trader said that "They notice that nickel has started to be put behind Vlissingen queues, and this is as a reaction to that, and also in Johor where Malaysia Smelting Corporation tin is stuck behind the aluminum queue."
Source - Reuters
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