Nickel output drops in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — The local nickel industry is expected to bounce back this year after a challenging 2020 that pulled down production volume amid the pandemic.

The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) said production last year reached 18.5 million dry metric tons (DMT), down 14 percent from the 2019 level of 21.6 million DMT.

The decrease in output was mainly due to the community quarantine imposed in the country, which limited the movement of both minerals and the workforce.

PNIA president Dante Bravo said the industry remains optimistic as nickel consumption is likely to increase with the growing demand from foreign markets.

This is driven by the infrastructure sector and improved demand from the electric vehicle industry, as well as the home appliance manufacturing sector.

“We are hopeful that there will be a continuous demand for the year so that we can also keep our performance and help our local communities by providing them jobs that they can keep,” Bravo said.

“The mining industry has kept to employ 190,000 people in the entire country and this is very important, especially with the Philippine government trying to implement economic recovery efforts from the impact of the pandemic,” he said.

Prices in the global market have been on an upward trend since the height of the pandemic and now averages more than $18,000 per MT.

Economies, particularly those of China and Japan, have started to slowly recover and this would be beneficial for the Philippine nickel industry.

Approximately 90 percent of the Philippine nickel exports goes to China while the remaining 10 percent goes to Japan.

Prices of high grade ores have reached the 2014 level after neighboring Indonesia imposed an ore export ban, a move that favored the Philippines.

The eight member companies of PNIA contribute almost 50 percent of the total nickel production in the Philippines.