Nickel cash price above $50,000 per tonne

Base metals prices were higher on Monday due to low supplies and high demands.

Copper hit its highest price of the year so far, reaching $6,650 per tonne at one point in the session after a statement by BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) that higher demand in China would put pressure on the market in the years second quarter. Last year, second quarter prices for copper neared $9,000 per tonne, setting a new record at $8,790 per tonne. BHP added, however, that the second half of the year will likely bring surpluses.

The cash price for nickel went above $50,000 for a time, the first time that has ever happened, as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell to 2,550 tonnes. Three-month nickel prices were down from Friday’s price to $46,600 late in the day on the LME, bringing the rise in nickel prices so far this year to 40 percent.

Tin prices breached $14,000 per tonne during the session, for the first time since the 1980s. The price of tin is up 22 percent since the beginning of the year.