RAO Norilsk Nickel accounted for nearly 96 percent of total Russian nickel production in 1998 and 22.2 percent of world production. Ranking second in world nickel production, Canada produces annually 150,000 metric tons. Canada's Inco Ltd., which has mines in Canada and Indonesia, accounts for 19 percent of world production and markets another 10 percent of the world's nickel. The United States' sole nickel producer closed its mines in Oregon in 1998 because of low nickel prices. Since 1960 the demand for nickel has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 4 percent.
Primary consumers are the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan.
Market Nickel is traded on the London Metal Exchange, where both a cash and futures market exists for the commodity. Prices are determined twice a day in what is called a morning ring and an afternoon ring. In 2000 labor disputes drove the spot price of nickel. Within days of the settlement announcement, prices declined almost 73 cents per pound. Falconbridge Ltd. The producer's workers, who went on strike in early August, ratified a new labor contract on Feb. 22, ending the seven-month strike.