SHANGHAI, Mar 30 - Japan's largest nickel producer - Sumitomo Metal Mining - said on Tuesday that global demand for nickel in the battery industry will grow by more than 20% this year due to firm demand for electric vehicles.
Sumitomo Metal supplies cathode nickel for Panasonic lithium batteries used in Tesla's electric cars. Demand for nickel used by rechargeable batteries will rise to more than 410,000 mt in 2022 from nearly 330,000 mt in 2021, the Company said.
Nickel is mainly used in the production of stainless steel and is also a key material for lithium batteries. Demand for electric vehicles will accelerate in the coming years.
Yusuke Niwa, general manager of Sumitomo Metal' nickel sales and raw materials division, said, "Nickel demand from electric vehicles is growing faster than we predicted a year ago." However, h believes that higher nickel prices could hurt demand in the long term, as companies seek to reduce the use of nickel or develop batteries with lower nickel content.
Sumitomo Metal expects the global nickel market supply shortfall to shrink to 68,000 mt in 2022, from 135,000 mt in 2021, as Indonesia's nickel pig iron output is expected to rise to more than 1 million mt.
Global nickel demand is expected to grow by 8.4% to 2.999 million mt this year, while supply is expected to increase by 11.4% to 2.931 million mt.
Japanese nickel demand is expected to grow by 0.2% to 170,400 mt and supply is expected to increase by 1.6% to 168,800 mt.
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