Philippine nickel output may decline this year

MANILA, Philippines — Nickel production in the country is seen to decline this year as the constant rains brought by a number of weather disturbances have already affected operations, according to the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA).

In a virtual briefing, PNIA president Dante Bravo said nickel production is already down by 10 percent.

Bravo expects annual nickel production to be lower than the average annual volume of 25 million to 30 million dry metric tons (DMT)

“There’s been a lot of rains this year – the first time we are seeing this,” Bravo said.

He said another factor hampering nickel production is the limited number of income vessels for the export of nickel.
Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) showed that the production of nickel direct shipping ore reached 27.2 million DMT in 2020.

In the first six months, nickel direct shipping ore grew 43 percent to 12.55 million DMT.

In contrast to the expected decline in nickel production volumes, Dante said the value of nickel production is seen to be 20 percent higher than the previous year.
“But in terms of value, I think it’s going to be higher than the previous year, because we’ve seen prices steadily going up since the start of the year because of the increasing Chinese demand,”Bravo said.

The MGB earlier reported that the value of the country’s metal output grew by 24.5 percent in the first half to P68.63 billion.

The value of the country’s nickel direct shipping ore production nearly doubled to P21.4 billion from P10.79 billion.

Meanwhile, the PNIA launched its first sustainability report, which focuses on the group’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the report, PNIA members were able to contribute to 15 out of the 17 UN SDGs through direct and indirect economic impacts emphasizing the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program where they allocated P531.7 million in environmental restoration of mined areas, and for other environmental risk-mitigation projects.