A strike by Steelworkers in Sudbury and other parts of Canada have done little to eat into stocks of nickel sitting in London Metal Exchange warehouses. The market was unperturbed by the lengthy strike at Vale Inco’s Sudbury operations as demand showed little signs of improvement and LME stocks again rose quite sharply. Analysts are disconcerted that stocks of nickel in London Metal Exchange warehouses have risen despite lengthy strikes at Vale’s Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay operations. Analysts cite disappointing demand and rising Chinese production of nickel in pig iron as some of the reasons for the growing stockpile. Mr Nick Moore, head of mining strategy at RBS Global Banking & Markets stated that “nickel has by far the worst fundamentals of any metals. LME inventories are at over 14 year highs, nickel in pig iron output is at full swing in China and there’s a parade of new nickel mines coming on stream.” Nickel operations in Sudbury, Russia, Guatemala, Zambia, Zimbabwe and China have either resumed or are scheduled to resume in the coming months, which will affect the price of nickel and stockpiles.