China stainless-steel demand to grow 40%

China stainless-steel demand to grow 40%

Bloomberg, Jakarta

PT Aneka Tambang, an Indonesian nickel and gold miner, expects
consumption of stainless steel in China to grow 40 percent this
year, boosting demand for nickel.

China will probably consume 5 million metric tons of stainless
steel this year, Aneka Tambang's President Director Dedi Aditya
Sumanagara said in an interview in Jakarta.

China may need "200,000 tons of nickel to fulfill this
stainless-steel demand," Sumanagara said. "Although it is cooling
down in China, we still have a good growth for nickel."

China's government has clamped down on lending to industries
including steel and autos to damp an investment boom that it
blames for power shortages, clogged transport networks and
accelerating inflation.

Global stainless-steel demand will rise 6.1 percent this year
to 22.6 million tons, according to U.K.-based consultant MEPS
(International) Ltd. Nickel futures on the London Metal Exchange
closed on Jan. 5 at $17,100 a ton, the highest since March 1989.
Prices have since fallen 25 percent to $12,900.

Jakarta-based Aneka Tambang, which sells nickel to China, said
in July production of nickel alloy used to make stainless steel
may decline to about 8,000 tons from 8,933 tons last year because
it shut a smelter for maintenance.