Nickel prices are proving a headache for miners across the world: oversupply of the metal plus low electric vehicle (EV) demand has created a profit-stealing two-year price slide.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) does not plan to launch a separate “green” nickel contract because the market is not large enough, but said its partner was developing an index price that will reflect demand for low carbon nickel.

Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel exporter, has a sobering message for struggling producers of the battery metal elsewhere: don’t expect any meaningful revival in prices.

Nickel, which had steadily gained this week in anticipation of the sanctions news, pared an earlier advance of as much as 1.2% to trade just 0.3% higher.

China’s net imports of refined nickel fell to a near-decade low in 2023, capturing the tectonic shifts playing out in the global production chain.

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp on Monday slashed its output estimate of nickel at its Ambatovy project in Madagascar due to system glitches.

Nickel Industries reported record quarterly output from its rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) projects.

Russian metals producer Nornickel on Monday said it expected a further decline in nickel output this year, hit by adverse geopolitical risks and postponed furnace repairs, following on from a drop in production in 2023.