Reuters reported that nickel prices lost ground in March, and will struggle to make headway as more new projects start up.

Aside from the swathe of new nickel projects coming on stream or ramping up capacity this year, strong nickel prices are encouraging higher output of nickel pig iron (NPI), adding to supply worries.

NPI is a lower grade nickel produced mainly in China and used by domestic stainless steel mills.

Meanwhile, demand for nickel from the key stainless steel sector was reasonably robust, although the picture was somewhat mixed, the analyst said.

Industry consultants CRU Group expect stainless steel production to grow by around 5% in 2011.

Below are some of the more significant recent developments in production, stocks and prices which may influence the direction of the market in 2011.

March 31 - Pacific Metals Co said it does not know when it will resume operations at its 44,000 tonnes a year Hachinohe nickel plant in northeast Japan after it was submerged in a devastating tsunami on March 11. Pacific Metals is partially owned by Nippon Steel and Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp, Japan's biggest stainless steel maker.

March 31 - Anglo American said it had delivered first production from USD 1.9 billion Barro Alto nickel project in Brazil.

March 16 - Lundin Mining said operations at its Aguablanca mine in Spain will not resume until 2012, after heavy rains caused a landslide at the nickel-copper mine in December. At the time, the Canadian base metal miner said it would suspend operations pending a technical investigation.

March 11 - Vale has started nickel production at its Onca Puma operation in Brazil's state of Para, the company said in a securities filing. The nominal production capacity is 53,000 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel.

March 11 - China produced 38,886 tonnes of nickel in the first two months of the year, up 46.5% from the same period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

March 3 - Russia's Norilsk Nickel expects nickel output at its South Africa joint venture to reach 20,000 tonnes a year by end 2012 from about 6,000 tonnes now, a top official said. Norilsk is in a 50:50 JV with South African diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals and the two have collectively invested ZAR 3.6 billion to expand the mine.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)