In one of the most vertical moves every seen in the commodity market, Nickel jumped as much as 90% on the London Metal Exchange as the Russia-Ukraine war sparked fresh anxiety of shortages.
Also read/watch | Crude prices likely to surge to $200/bbl
Russia is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of the metal that is used across the board by old school industry and booming tech as well. More than 70% of the global supply of nickel goes into making stainless steel. Nickel is also key component in manufacturing EV batteries. Currently, only about 7% of the supply goes to battery makers but the demand is on the rise.
Also read/watch | Russia threatens to shut off gas, markets tremble as prices sky rocket
Elon Musk founder of the EV ride Tesla has already declared that due to the tight supply concerns the company would be looking at new options of metals to use in EV batteries.
Indonesia is the top producer of Nickel but Russia via it's mines in Siberia provides a higher grade of Nickel which is more suited for batteries.