JOGMEC to Sell Ferronickel from National Stockpile

Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) announced on Thursday the corporation sells 5,378 tonnes of ferronickel, which comes from Japanese national stockpiling and contains 1,085 tonnes of nickel. JOGMEC is an incorporated administrative agency established by Japanese government to assist upstream activities and to promote national stockpiling for mineral resources and energy. The agency sells ferronickel when nickel price is increasing at London Metal Exchange (LME) and nickel inventory held by LME is decreasing. JOGMEC will hold an open tender for ferronickel at the head office in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on December 15.This is the third sales of ferronickel by JOGMEC in 2006. The agency sold 335 tonnes of nickel ingot and 6,424 tonnes of ferronickel which contained 1,295 tonnes of nickel in April, while it sold 189 tonnes of nickel ingot and 5,376 tonnes of ferronickel which contained 1,084 tonnes of nickel in August.LME nickel settlement price nearly tripled to US$ 34,395 per tonne on November 29 from US$ 13,505 at the beginning of 2006. Inventory held by LME currently decreased to 6,564 tonnes, one sixth volume from early 2006.Japan stockpiles 7 rare metal items nationally and privately which are nickel, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, cobalt and vanadium. JOGMEC sold molybdenum and vanadium in 2003, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium and nickel in 2004 and tungsten in 2005 from national stockpiling.