China to be world's largest nickel user

China to be world's largest nickel user

MONTREAL: China will overtake Japan in the first half of 2005
to become the world's largest consumer of nickel, said Inco Ltd.,
the world's second-largest producer of the metal that makes
stainless steel rustproof.

China is using more stainless steel in construction and
manufacturing as its economy expands -- growth reached 9.1
percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. Nickel demand
could grow 17 percent a year for the next 11 years, said Scott
Hand, the chief executive of Toronto-based Inco.

"China's regulators support capacity expansion in electricity
generation, oil extraction and water and transportation
infrastructure," Hand said on Monday at a conference in Montreal,
according to a transcript on Inco's Web site. "None of this can
happen without lots of nickel."

Consumption of stainless steel, which accounts for two-thirds
of nickel use, rose in the first nine months by 7 percent in
Japan and 10 percent in the U.S. Nickel prices rose to a 14- year
high in January amid forecasts demand this year would exceed
production. -- Bloomberg