Interview with Industry Commentator Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel Company (TSX-V:CNC)

Following on from our recent interview to discuss his blossoming nickel exploration and development company, Selby is back to discuss the state of the nickel market.

First up, what is Selby's take on the global metals markets? Has the market bottomed out? He thinks in China the market has reached the bottom, based on various metrics. The latest data in China for copper, the largest metal by market volume, has seen the premium of the price in China at 18-month+ highs. Selby likes to use copper concentrate terms as a reference point for the wider market, because at these "inflexion points,". If the Chinese decide that the copper price is low and try to obtain as much as possible in any form: cathodes, concentrates, scrap etc. They just want copper on the way at today's price. Copper concentrate terms are currently at "multi-year lows." Time to get excited? Is this a sign to make metals investors feel bullish? There are significant Year-On-Year (YoY)increases in imports for a "bunch of materials."

What strategy will the Chinese government adopt? Play catch up with production or carry on as usual? Selby states that, based on several metrics, the Chinese government is trying to drive metal production via infrastructure and construction spending. 6-weeks ago, cables producers that feed this supply chain have been up over 100% of capacity. Anecdotally, he says that excavator sales are up 60% Year-On-Year. There is clearly a "big shove" happening to get the Chinese economy going again.

This is great for copper, but what about metals with different supply dynamics. He states that while speculation on a several hundred thousand tonnes of copper might be possible, it won't happen for bulk metals. Iron ore imports have been "rocketing" into China, and iron ore prices are at "very, very, very solid levels." The fact we are witnessing this sort of market behaviour in copper, bulk metals and in other economic indicators, this helps confirm that we are back on the way up. For nickel, Selby claims stainless prices are up year over year. Stainless steel inventories have come down a little bit, but they still have quite some way to go. In terms of a specific positive indicator for nickel, we are observing the price discount between nickel pig iron produced in China and nickel has closed a lot. On the supply side, all of the mines in the Philippines have been shut down, which has massively hampered nickel supply. We are seeing ore imports on the ground hitting multi-year lows in China.

Investors are now coming into the nickel space as evidenced by Canada Nickel's rising share price. Selby is hoping to capitalise on this with a U.S. listing for Canada Nickel: this is something that is definitely on the cards in the not-so-distant future.  

Company Page: https://canadanickel.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor