“March should be the highest month,” according to a MEPS online analysis. “In the longer term, we expect stainless selling values to decline as nickel prices reduce and the U.S. economic slowdown begins to take its toll on stainless consumption in the U.S.,” the analysis continued.
The report noted that a declining U.S. dollar has caused the price of nickel, which is traded in dollars, to increase further than anticipated in MEPS previous forecast. Also, new nickel projects due to come on stream in 2007 have been delayed until 2008.