Reuters reported that Cutbacks at loss making, high cost nickel and aluminium smelters will not be enough to outweigh excess production from a surge of more efficient, new operations, forcing prices lower still.

According to the median forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, the price of both metals has been weighed down as producers churn out more material than needed by industry.

Nickel is forecast to end up with a market surplus of 53,650 tonnes this year while aluminium is expected to have an excess of 825,385 tonnes. Cutbacks may only trim a fraction of that excessive output.