Non-Ferrous Metal Output Falls On Low Prices

 | Mar 01, 2016 08:10AM ET

The non-ferrous metals output fell on low prices

The non-ferrous metals edged up after the Bank of China decided to cut the reserve requirements to the banks for the 5th time in recent 12 months. Investors expect the move to support the economic growth and China’s demand for commodities. Will the Norilsk (OTC:NILSY) nickel stocks advance? Now it accounts for 13% of global nickel production, 44% of palladium and 2% of copper.

Let’s study the revenue mix of Norilsk Nickel: nickel sales account for 46% of revenue, copper for 25%, palladium for 15% and platinum for 9%. Thus, the global metal prices increase pushes up the company’s stocks. On Tuesday the February Manufacturing PMI was released in China having fallen for the 7th straight month. Nevertheless, the news had no negative effect on the on-ferrous metals prices so far. Market participants believe such reaction may be caused by the contracted world supply given the low prices. The current Р/Е ratio (price to earnings) of Norilsk Nickel stocks for the recent 12 months is 6.5 which is far below the ratio of the similar companies. The additional factor of nickel price growth may be the closure of miming and concentrating Queensland Nickel factory in Australia for 11 days due to the lack of ore. The copper prices may find some ground in Freeport-McMoRan comments on the further production cuts in case of prolonged period of low prices. Moreover, Chile reported its copper production contracted in January by 13.8%. This state is the world copper production leader.