China Lateritic Nickel Ore Market to See 60,000 Tonne Glut in 2019
SMM reported that this year is likely to see an oversupply of 60,000 tonne of lateritic nickel ore domestically, with estimated production of high-grade nickel pig iron at 510,000 tonne and the overall imports of ore at 570,000 tonne, SMM forecasts. The readings are based on nickel content.
China's imports of lateritic nickel ore rose 15% from a year ago to stand at 28.68 million tonne, on wet basis, in the first half of 2019, with imports of medium- to high- grade ore up 10% and that of low-grade ore up 48%, customs data showed.
Greater imports of low-grade ore from the Philippines and medium- to high- grade ore from Indonesia accounted for the increases.
Rising production of NPI with low Ni content in China encouraged the imports of low-grade lateritic nickel ore from the Philippines. A surge in prices of iron ore also prompted domestic steelmakers to procure low-grade nickel ore, with Fe content of around 49%, as an alternative for iron ore.
SMM calculation based on customs data showed that some 27%, or 610,000 wmt, of low-grade nickel ore imports in June were consumed in the steel industry.
In January to June, China’s imported some 15.5 million wmt of lateritic nickel ore from the Philippines, up 6% on the year, with imports of low-grade ore rising 49%. Imports of medium- to high- grade ore from the Philippines, however, slid 10% year on year, squeezed by a greater market share of Indonesian materials.
SMM learned that medium-grade nickel ore from the Philippines usually contains 1.3-1.5% Ni, while the Indonesian counterpart holds Ni content of 1.65% and above. The Philippines has slowed its exports of nickel ore with a grade below 1.5% as the share of Indonesian cargoes expanding.
Source : SMM