Nickel demand from China is likely to decline more than anticipated because of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, Nornickel said during its earnings call.
But the Russian multi-metal miner - the world's leading nickel producer - said it was too early to quantify the risk posed to business by the virus.
Publishing its
2019 financial results report on February 26, Nornickel said it now expects to produce at least 220,000 tonnes of nickel in 2020, revised down from its
previous estimate of 225,000-235,000 tonnes on January 31.
China was the strongest nickel-consuming region in the world in 2019.
"China's decline was expected... But now, with the coronavirus, the downside risk is larger than it was a few months ago," said Anton Berlin, Nornickel's head of strategic marketing.
While...