Fastmarkets looks at the key takeaways from the seventh Fastmarkets Asian Nickel conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 11-12, from who will fill the Asian supply gap from 2020 to emerging demand for nickel from the electric vehicle battery sector.
Indonesian nickel ore export ban will create Chinese nickel ore shortfall China is heavily reliant on nickel ore imports from Indonesia and Philippines. With the ban on Indonesian nickel ore exports coming into effect in January 2020 and the likelihood of the Philippines filling the supply gap small, Fastmarkets estimates China will be short by 240,000 tonnes of nickel units in ore from next year, head of research William Adams said. "There'll be less ore sent to China next year, and if the main pressing demand is nickel pig iron (NPI), then investment will flow into NPI projects, rather than high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) projects," Adams said. Nickel demand in China remains largely driven by stainless steel consumption and NPI, made from...